Loud House: First Impact
by ChernoMan
Summary: (Yet another Tokusatsu-style story for The Loud House. But this time, it's a slightly different route.) A comet has been announced to pass by Earth one night. Unbeknownst to any of them, the comet holds a secret that will soon come to light. Now, the people of Royal Woods have prepared themselves for a night of majestic celestial beauty, that will soon make way for strange events.
1. Chapter 1

Right, here goes nothing.

Chapter 1.

* * *

It was night time, everyone in the town of Royal Woods had gathered outside of their homes or wherever they could just to get a view on a shooting star that had been predicted to be visible at around 9 o'clock.

Said object had only been identified around last week when it was spotted reflecting the light of the sun, indicating that it may have metallic properties. It wasn't long after that the object had everything about its' trajectory and travel speed calculated and expected to safely pass by Earth.

The Loud family too were no exception in attending the viewing of the celestial object. Their expectations only growing when it was confirmed by the resident scientist, Lisa Loud that such an event would surely happen.

After having waited patiently and eagerly, it happens. The comet finally came into observable distance and beautifully reflects the sun's light, mesmerizing all those who witnessed it. Some were taking pictures, as one usually would.

The aforementioned family were exhilarated as they watched the comet pass through. They waited until the last of the light faded away before they, along with the everyone else in town left the scene and head back into their homes, all of them feeling joyful.

However not everyone went back inside just yet. A lone boy stood, leaning against the house's railing, still gazing upon the sky. He took a deep breath and exhaled. He back away for a bit.

"You know, in a family like mine, it's not very often that you get to see something like this. So, I guess this can be considered a blessing for us.

Just as he was about to join his family in getting ready for bed, he couldn't help but turn around at the slightest hint of change in the scenery. He looked closely and for a brief moment, he though he could see a small fragment of the comet break off and shoot through the sky once more. Trying to rationalize the situation, he thought that such thing wouldn't have been possible and heck, he could even get confirmation from his 2nd youngest sister the previously mentioned Lisa Loud and she would say it right to his face that it was indeed impossible.

But it wasn't. What just happened did happen.

Chapter End.

* * *

Wow, sorry for the short first chapters guys! That's just a side-effect of having laid off writing for quite a while. I promise the rest will be longer than this but until then, hang on mang!


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2.

A new day begins and thus opens up a path for countless possible events to take place.

As the people of Royal Woods go about in their day, it was clear that the comet was still on everyone's mind, fresh as it was. Almost everyone talked about it, granted, it was also said to be by far one of the brightest ever. Almost as if it had emitted its' own light.

School children too were caught up in said commotion, talking about how "awesome" or "beautiful" and for very few, "somewhat terrifying".

Of course, this would also include Lincoln Loud and his best friend, Clyde McBride.

"That was so amazing last night!" The latter began.

"Yeah! That was very cool." Concurred the Loud boy.

"It's not so often that we get to see something like that. It was like, whoosh and then, bling!" Said his friend whilst making those sound effects as he talked about the parts when the comet passed through and the moment it got much brighter.

They both continued having their little talk about the events of last night, clearly not letting it go anytime soon.

Just as they were coming within the vicinity of their school, Lincoln felt something, almost as if something was trying to poke into his mind. For a very brief moment, the same feeling he received from last night came back to him. In a subconscious act, he began turning his focus somewhere else and he saw it. A tiny object from behind a bush not far from their location twinkled as it reflected the sunlight caught Lincoln's eye as he and Clyde were walking towards the school. Wondering what it could be, he decided to check it out.

"Hold up Clyde, think I saw something over there." Lincoln pointed at the aforementioned bush.

"What?"

Before his friend could receive an answer, the white-haired boy ran off to find this object that he saw. Not knowing what else to do but to follow the Loud boy if he wanted an answer, he did just that.

"What did you see Lincoln?" Clyde asked again, looking down at Lincoln who was digging up the dirt on the spot where he found this thing.

"This." Lincoln finally replied while holding up something that looked oddly metallic. The texture and how it felt in Lincoln's hand seemed to imply that it was indeed composed of metal.

"Whoa," His friend looked at it, although it did reminded him of something. As the object vaguely resembled the comet, "What do you think that is? A fragment from the comet?"

Lincoln chuckled at his friend's response upon seeing what he held in his hand, "Oh Clyde, this can't be it."

Of course, he didn't realize the truth in the statement that his friend has made. None of them did.

"What are you going to do with it anyway?"

Lincoln's eye widened at the question, "Honestly, I don't know," he shrugged, "I mean, sure it looked cool but it may just be some weird rock or something."

"But then again, rocks don't look metallic."

"Huh, you do have a point."

"And metals aren't found this close to the surface."

With that, Lincoln placed the "rock" in his bag and lightly patted on his friend's shoulder with a trusting smile.

Just then, they heard the school bell ring, signaling the beginning of class and for them, a sign that they are late. The two boys began panicking and quickly ran to their school.

As class goes on, with Mrs. Johnson up front giving them their lesson as things usually would be, Lincoln sat with a bored expression. Relieved at least, he and Clyde were scolded at just a moment ago and thankfully they were only slightly behind schedule and thus were safe from detention.

Once he saw that everyone's focus were on the subject, he backed up slightly and opened up his desk just enough for him to take a peek at the metallic object.

Looking back up to make sure nobody caught him or raised suspicions even a little, he leaned in a bit and held out his hand to grab hold of the thing again. However, he suddenly stopped himself at the last second. He knew he felt the urge to see if it would give some sort of reaction but also felt that it may not be wise to do so, despite his curiosity.

He sighed and shut his desk closed so he could go back with the class on their work.

Once more, the passing of time occurs, and comes again the ringing of the bell. Recess has begun and the students are excused. Lincoln quickly snatched the rock and pocketed it. He got up and was joined by Clyde as he walked out of the classroom to head for their destination, the cafeteria.

After having got their lunch and their seats, they settled down and started digging in. Well, maybe not for Lincoln. He hasn't quite made any approach to his food yet, nor had they have any conversation along the way. Nothing. He did nothing but stare at the rock ever since they got to their spots.

Worried that something may have happened, Clyde opened up, "What's wrong? You haven't eaten yet. You haven't even talked at least once since class ended."

"Huh?" Replied the Loud boy, not exactly conscious of what he had been doing the last several minutes.

"You've been staring at that thing." His friend pointed out to him.

Lincoln turned to look at his hand and, he is, the object, as mentioned before was still in his hand.

Letting out a small groan, Lincoln placed his hand on his face, "I'm sorry, it's just that, this thing feels like it's getting in my head."

"What?"

"I know, it's weird but that's exactly what's happening to me right now."

"Maybe you're just over-thinking about it."

"You're right. I think I'll just have Lisa check on this thing." Lincoln placed the object back in his pocket.

Back at the Loud family household, Lincoln had just arrived there after having walked from school once it had ended. He made his way upstairs and into his room. Placing his bag on the bed, he quickly grabbed the rock and headed to Lisa's room to do what he had planned.

"Hey sis!" He greeted his younger sibling as he ran into the room.

"What is it this time, Lincoln?" Asked the young scientist as she was conducting some sort of experiment or an examination on an object quite similar to the one has in possession.

"What are you doing?" Lincoln ignored the question and asked his own.

"I am trying to see if this thing has any sort of connection to the comet last night. You do know that the comet that passed by last night was implied to have a metallic property don't you? Well, I've went through several studies made by those people who had announced the existence of the comet, and based on what little research I have made on this object here, I think it is safe to say that not only does it indeed possess that quality to it as well as the likeliness of this thing being connected to it is quite high. As for how I got this thing into the house, don't worry, I have my ways." Explained the young Loud and smiled while adjusting her glasses as she finished her explanation.

"Uhm, okay? I was just about to hand this thing to you." Lincoln handed out his fragment of the object, not really understanding one bit of what Lisa said since he only had one thing in mind.

He immediately caught Lisa's attention when she set her focus on what he held in his hand. As shown when she gasped upon seeing the rock.

"Lincoln, where did you find this?" She inquired.

"Clyde and I found it on our way to school this morning." Answered Lincoln, although he was somewhat hesitant about it. Clearly trying to avoid talking about a certain strange sensation.

"This is great! Now I can put these things together!" She exclaimed as she took the object from Lincoln's hand and turned back to her workplace and inspected at it closely as if looking for a spot where it might have fitted in. She had to roll the larger fragment a few times before she could finally see again where she thought she'd found it before.

"This might just do something, this part over here has a missing piece that fits this exact shape," Lisa explains as she slowly began moving the object to put into said piece, "I may not believe that this would yield strange or even remotely alien results but it never fails to excite me when I've finally found the missing component in something."

Lincoln moved closely, though just enough so he could get a good view while still not being a blockade to Lisa, expectantly watching since he had gotten pumped up after hearing what she said.

The fragment was then fitted in perfectly as Lisa had expected, and they both backed away, waiting for whatever might happen. Little did they know, they may have bargained more than they wanted.

Just when they least expected it, the object began to shake, which only intensified the longer it continued. The surface also started cracking up and began emitting light from the small crevices cause by it.

The sound of the table shaking also happened to wake up a third Loud family member, Lily Loud, the youngest in the family. Lincoln gasped in shock when he saw how close she was to the space rock.

"Lily!" He rushed to Lily's crib and took her out of it and ran back to Lisa's side.

Their initial excitement quickly turned into horror as the light intensified, now producing a loud pulsating sound that should be audible to everyone in the house. The Loud siblings screamed in terror as they shielded their eyes from the blinding light.

Once the light begins to fade out, Lincoln opened up his eyes to see that in the place of what once had been the strange object was now an even stranger item, it was something that looks to be a belt of sort. In the middle of said belt or, the buckle, was now a more polished version of the rock he found before. Now it looks more like an oval that had been cleanly cut out from a thick metal sheet placed firmly into a hexagonal piece.

Both he and Lisa and of course, Lily who was still in Lincoln's arms, walked up to Lisa's workplace to get a better look at this newly formed belt. The former held it up in one hand and was just about to question the event that had just unfold until the rest of his siblings came barging in through the doorway, forcing him and Lisa to hide the item behind them.

"What was that? We heard screaming!" Asked the eldest, Lori.

"It's nothing!" Lincoln tried to reassure them, which was only followed by a loud commotion from the rest of the sisters, obviously not falling for that.

"Yes, it was nothing. I just happened to botch another experiment. I assure you, it was nothing." Lisa aided Lincoln in his lie, somewhat more successful in calming them down.

"Really?" Lori questioned them, still, "I don't recall you having ever scream on a failed experiment." An answer that made Lisa lose confidence in her own lie.

As if she understood the predicaments both Lisa and Lincoln were in, Lily just happened to have soiled herself, "Poo poo." She said while waving her arms.

The Loud boy then quickly thought of another way to pull themselves out of this, "Oh hey! Lily just made a mess, would you mind changing her diapers? I would but I want to help Lisa clean up her workplace." He said while holding Lily out to Lori.

"Ugh fine," Replied the teen whilst rolling her eyes but showed compliance anyway by taking her youngest sister, "Come on Lily, let's get you cleaned up." She said while walking out to head for the bathroom. The others following suit.

"Whew." Both Lincoln and Lisa wiped their brows and sighed in relief once the coast is clear.

"So, what do you think this is?" Asked Lincoln.

"Honestly, I don't have the slightest idea. Why it took that form too, is beyond my comprehension," Replied the younger Loud, "My only guess is that it may be some sort extraterrestrial tech. It may be too ridiculous of an idea to propose but then again, this thing did just assembled into the form that it is in right now."

"Are you going to keep this thing for research?"

"Of course, but I suggest you hold on to it for now. It would be troublesome if I were to fall asleep when tinkering with it and leave its' existence exposed to the rest of the family."

Lincoln simply stared at the belt. What was he to do with this? How is he going to even cope with what just happened? All he knew was that, he was now responsible in keeping this item a secret from the others.

As day becomes night, the Loud family prepared themselves for bedtime. Lincoln had taken the belt with him in his bedroom and hid it under his bed.

"So, yeah! Then it just started blinding us with its' light and the next thing we know, this… Belt was on the table." Lincoln explained the whole situation to Clyde.

"Wow, so what did you do with it then?"

"Lisa told me that whenever she isn't conducting any tests on it, I should be the one to keep it."

"Cool."

"Maybe, but I still can't shake off this feeling I'm getting whenever I think about it."

"Maybe you just need a rest from all this. At least the others don't know about this yet, right?"

"Yeah, it's just me, Lisa and Lily as of now."

"Great! Anyway, I'm going to bed now, we'll talk about this tomorrow at school."

"Sounds good." Lincoln tiredly replied. He did just went through a mentally taxing event what with the fragment potentially killing him and his two youngest sisters and the only thing running in his mind was how would he even let it pass?

He took one last peek at the belt underneath his bed, hidden among the many hand-me-downs that he's hid away. He quickly retreated back on his bed and slid under his sheets, once more attempting to forget all that's happened and hopefully get some sleep.

Perhaps, the last statement about the comet being, "Somewhat terrifying" also holds some truth to it? Most likely, but come to think of it, there weren't any reports of a meteor impact were there?

Chapter End.

Note: And that's it. I apologize if in the end, the chapter just ends up being a massive exposition. I mean, then again the first chapter only focused on setting and introduction of the main character. Hopefully, I could kick the story into high gear with the next chapter.

Edit: I made some modifications for the chapter so I could slide in some scenes nicely for the coming chapters.

Extra note: I'm posting this now because I need to know what you guys think about the second chapter. Think of it as some sort of "early reading" or something like that. Besides, my actual deadline is next week.


	3. Chapter 3 A new day

Chapter 3.

As the sun rises, so do the people of Royal Woods.

Once the clock hits 6:30, it began sounding its' alarm, giving Lincoln the sign to wake up. He mustered what's left of his energy to start moving and silence the alarm clock. With a loud groan, he groggily sat up and remained so before he could finally bring himself to get out of the bed.

Still feeling tired from having just woken up, he gave himself a little stretch to help him start off the day. He walked up to the door and twisted the knob, pulling the door to reveal him the same image he sees every day. A chaotic scene featuring none other than his own sisters.

He sighed at the sight and stepped back, closing the door. He then gave himself a warm up before running at full force, dodging everyone in the hall just to get to the bathroom safely without having to deal with any of them.

After safely arriving at his destination, he gave out a sigh of relief and foolishly let his guard down.

"Good morning Lincoln." Lisa announced her presence while squirting out toothpaste onto her brush, giving Lincoln a good surprise.

"Oh, good morning to you too Lisa." He answered before going up to the sink where Lisa had just began brushing her teeth.

The boy calmly took the toothpaste and applied it onto his own brush and does what he was there for in the first place.

"So," Lisa started, her voice slightly muffled due to her talking while still brushing her teeth, "Where have you hidden the belt?"

The question took Lincoln by surprise and nearly choked on his toothbrush. He pulled out the tool and spat into sink before wiping his mouth, "Right, I nearly forgot about that. I hid it under the bed."

"Good, make sure it is brought to me once school is over."

"I'll have it delivered."

With that, Lisa finished her task and left Lincoln be in the bathroom to do whatever business he has in mind.

Lincoln then slumped against the sink and smacked himself in the face, "Right, so that was not a dream." He grimly said to himself. He could only go back to doing what is left to be done.

Moments later, the silence that the bathroom gave was interrupted with a loud knock from the door, presumably one of his sisters.

"Lincoln! Open up, stop hogging the bathroom!" Lori yelled from outside.

"Just a second!" Answered the boy before he finally opened up the door to an angered Lori, "Alright, it's all yours!" He smiled awkwardly as he gestured her in.

The teenager walked inside while still glaring at her younger brother, "Get out of here, twerp."

"Of course!" Lincoln complied and quickly heads out to his bedroom again.

Without the others in sight, Lincoln successfully made his way into his bedroom and hurriedly close the door shut and looked around to see if anybody somehow managed to sneak past in. After confirming to himself that its' clear, he slowly crouched down and deep within him, wished that whatever it is he found yesterday was still in the condition he found it in. Much to his dismay and horror however, the belt is indeed still there.

All he could do now was hang his head, "How did it come to this?"

Having done the essentials in preparing himself for school, Lincoln was now en route to school. He was, as usual, met by Clyde who seems to indicate from the looks of his eyes that he has loads of questions.

"Alright now, start from the bottom. What happened?" He asked.

"Well…" Lincoln began, and told the story of what happened to his friend.

"Wow, so how are you dealing with that?" Clyde asks, completely taken aback by Lincoln's story. Possible alien technology forming right in front of them? What if its' presence was known by potentially many more space-faring extraterrestrial creatures? It's not like there could have been any tech on Earth capable of doing what the belt did.

"I…" Lincoln tried to answer that but found himself unable to. He was already thinking of possible risks he may have inadvertently given to his family. Then again, he may just be too harsh on himself.

"It's okay buddy, if you need me, I'll be here for you." His friend tried to console him.

Lincoln smiled at his friend's gesture and actually managed to lighten up ever since yesterday. Now assured that it'll be okay as long as nothing else has happened, he and Clyde continued on in their journey to school, with the former ready again to tackle whatever challenges the day may pose. What great optimism.

Back at the Loud house, underneath the bed of a certain Loud, lies a belt that had just been the subject matter earlier. As if sensing something approaching, the item lit up, which seemingly does nothing. Then again, it just goes to show that the belt did a "fine" job in protecting the place where it is currently housed in.

For everyone else, it is obvious that they know not of what might happen soon.

In Lincoln's class, all the students cheered when it was announced that their teacher, Mrs. Johnson will not be able to attend class due to a last minute call on a cold that she'd caught just this morning. It was strange, but nobody thought of it as suspicious, not in the slightest.

Their excitement quickly died out when another announcement was made, saying that a substitute teacher is instead coming in to take their teacher's place. Not long after, the sound of footsteps was heard from outside the class, the children inside waited with a bored expression plastered firmly on their face.

A man in gray suit soon walked into their class, his strides big and confident, a smile firmly stuck on his face. Taking a deep breath, the man turned to his left to face the students, and exhaled. Although this does begs the question, where was that other substitute teacher?

"So, let's begin shall we?" He declared. His well-built frame and posture showing that he is man who's always at top shape. Not that it would matter right?

"I will begin by introducing myself," His joyous tone seem to become increasingly, happier, almost as if he's trying to gain the full trust of his students. An ulterior motive is perhaps hidden behind that smile?

"My name is Abraham. Zed Abraham," It was at this moment that an accent began poking out, but the students couldn't quite tell what it was, "Though, I'd prefer if you guys refer to me in a formal manner. Mr. Abe sounds good for now right?" He added and received nods of agreement.

"Good! Let's get started." He cheerfully said and combed away the strands of his messy, dark brown hair that got in the way of his vision.

In an unexpected twist of events, the class had an oh so very good time with Mr. Abraham, it would seem that his lighthearted nature is indeed what he exactly is. Never would it be thought that class would become one of the brightest place anyone could have been in. At least, that's how it was in Lincoln's mind, of course he would think so given that he wanted to take a break from whatever thoughts the belt may have projected into his mind. Maybe to him, that's what it felt like. Then again, nobody had any idea what that thing is.

As class comes to an end, the students interjected, showing their dissatisfaction. However, disappointment quickly turns into hope as Zed announced that he will also be their coach during P.E. At this moment, the students were too excited to even wonder what happened to the other substitute.

Lincoln and Clyde were the last to walk out of the classroom, and they would have already done so if Abe hadn't stopped them.

"Wait, hold up."

"What is it Mr. Abe?" Lincoln turned to face the man, his friend standing next to him.

"What's your name again, sonny?" He asked, his presence was almost overwhelming. Perhaps it was due to him being surprisingly taller than he was initially thought to be.

"Oh uh, it's Lincoln, sir. Lincoln Loud." The boy politely answered.

"Hm, nice to meet you," He said while reaching out his hand, expecting a handshake. The name sort of rings a bell there for a moment.

"Yeah, you too," Lincoln happily returned the favor, but once he grabbed hold of his teacher's hand, he felt a strange tingling sensation. It took a moment before he could react to it with a gasp.

"Hm? What is it?" Said , his usual smile still on his face. Though, he didn't seem bothered by Lincoln's reaction.

"Oh, it's nothing." Lincoln raised his hands in front of him.

"Well, take care now." The young man bid his temporary goodbye as the two students head out for recess.

"What was that?" Clyde began when he saw his friend staring at his right hand.

"Huh? Um, it's not something to worry about."

"You're really losing it, aren't you?"

"No, I swear, I'm good."

Watching as the two children make their leave, Zed walked back into the class and took a deep breath with his eyes closed. Once his mind was cleared, he opened up his eyes again and exhaled.

"Found you," He said while looking out the window, "Thank goodness for that."

Chapter End.

Oh dear… I was not satisfied with how it all turned out. I had a clear picture in mind before I stopped to take a break but then it all got messed up when I was in trouble thinking of a name for Zed. Shouldn't have done that.

I also didn't intend to end it right here but, it could have ended up being worse if I decided to continue from here on because that's just stupid on my part. I've done that enough to know.

I'm really taking it slow am I? Apologies if this chapter was beyond dissatisfaction. I know I said I could hopefully kick this bastard into shape, I'm sorry.

Apologies too for suddenly dropping the style I wrote in during the first chapter.


	4. Chapter 4 An unexpected visit

Late upload, sorry.

Chapter 4.

"Alright! Everybody line up now!" Mr. Abe said out loud after having the kids run several laps around the gymnasium and do some warm-ups.

In a quick and orderly fashion, his students began lining up in a long, straight line. Very few of them were visibly tired and even then, they showed great enthusiasm still.

"Right, so today, we're gonna start off our phys ed energetically," Abe announced to his students. He turned around and pulled out a very familiar looking ball from a sack that was placed right next to him, "And to do that, let's play dodgeball."

With the whistle blown, the students that were chosen for the two competing teams in the current match-up scatters around their respective sides, doing everything they can to avoid getting hit.

Lincoln had been paired up with Clyde as usual, the two have been very successful so far in surviving the round against the other team. Though, they haven't been of much help and slowly, began to lose their teammates.

"Okay, all we gotta do is stay out of the line of fire, got that?" Lincoln said to his friend while trying to dodge enemy "bullets".

"Yup, it's a bit hard though, when I'm trying to focus on your words." Clyde grunted as he rolled away to avoid the incoming dodgeballs.

"Right, sorry." Apologized the former.

Before they knew it, they were down to three people left. Those being: Lincoln, Clyde and Rusty Spokes. The last struggling hard to keep himself out of their opponents' line.

"Guys, I think we could do with less talking and more throwing." He chimed in between the two all while avoiding impact and returning fire to their opponents, with all their members still standing.

"What? Oh, right, sorry!" Lincoln said and rushed to his friend's aid by grabbing a ball and throwing at his opponent with surprising accuracy. Hitting his target right on his stomach, knocking him over.

"Whoa." Was all the Loud boy could utter.

"Wow." Clyde joined in.

"That was amazing!" Rusty said before getting hit. He fell onto the floor with a loud "Oof!"

"Sorry guys, guess its' up to you now." He said while trying to get up.

The two best friends gulped down nervously as they saw Rusty walk out of the arena and turned back to face 5 more of their opponents.

"Good luck buddy."

"You too, Clyde."

Right after that, the two frantically ran around avoiding every thrown ball at them, an action that managed to give their current teacher a good laugh at their antics.

"Come on now, don't just run, try fighting back!" Their teacher spoke up.

"O-okay." Lincoln bit his lip and scanned his side for any ball, when his eye finally caught one on the other side of his area, he ran as fast he could while dodging several balls that were thrown at him.

When he finally got to it, he threw it in the general direction where the opposing sides were and surprisingly enough, actually managed to hit one of them. In a borderline cartoonish manner, the ball that was thrown was reflected off the first target and hit another in the shoulder, sending it flying upwards. One of the opposing side's team member tried to retaliate but was bonked on the head by the then falling ball. Usually this would warrant the player who, even if unintentionally, threw the ball to be called out but since Mr. Abe made no comments about it they thought he made an exception or simply decided to ignore the rules.

While everyone in the gym cheered for Lincoln, he could only stare confusedly at what just happened. It was now down to 2-on-2 and both sides could feel the tension rising. The balls were scattered all around their arena. Nobody made any moves so far and that was nerve-wrecking for the remaining players. Anything could happen at this moment. Anything.

Lincoln took this time to try and process the incident that he had just experienced. He actually managed to down someone in dodgeball, not just one either, he got 3! This was all beyond him, he never thought he could ace it in any kind of sport activity. It's not that he became physically strong or faster in any way, it's more that he can react to things much faster now. Making things stranger is that he's actually been feeling like this ever since he made contact with the smaller fragment. He did not expect to receive any long-lasting effects.

Just as he finished thinking out all of that, he felt a strange sensation, similar to the one instinct he had during the night of the comet's viewing. Before he could even grasp the situation, he moved out of the way of an incoming ball. Once again, surprising everyone present. With the exception of Mr. Abe, who seems to be watching intently at the Loud boy.

"Woah! That was a close one," Clyde ducked to avoid another ball and grabbed one that's nearby. He launched it at one of the last remaining members and actually managed to land a hit.

"Hah! I did it Lincoln!" He jumped up happily before taking a shot on his stomach. Sending him down and out.

"Sorry, buddy." He weakly said, trying to recuperate from the shock of the surprise attack.

Lincoln began sweating after seeing his last partner get taken out, leaving him and the last member on the opposing side. They stared down at each other for quite a while before a sneeze from the crowd sent the two racing around their respective sides to look for the nearest ball.

The two then finally spotted their tie-breaker, Lincoln was a good 3 feet away from from his while the other needed only to crouch down beside them to get his. Seeing that his opponent already had in his hand, he began to panic a bit.

Lincoln decided to trust his intuition and closed his eyes. Their teacher then cocked up an eyebrow, intrigued in what his student decided in their decisive moment. The ball was then launched towards him.

Just then, mere centimeters away from him, Lincoln quickly rolled to the side where his final weapon was at and grabbed it, the ball almost hitting his side. He swiftly got on one knee and opened his eyes, a confident smile now on his face. His opponent was beyond stunned at this moment an tried to evade once Lincoln propelled the ball from his arm, coming in fast at his target and struck him right at the spot where he'd hit his friend with.

Everyone was astonished by this surprising finish. They took glances at each other and some averted their gaze to their teacher. It took only one answer from him to know what to do at the moment, he smiled, the other students cheered for Lincoln.

The Loud boy received extremely positive reception from his teammates as well, they all hurried to the victor and carried him above their heads while happily shouting out their victory cheers.

"Fantastic work, Loud!" Came the voice of a familiar man.

"Thanks Mr. Abe." Lincoln thanked him after being put back on his feet.

"I have to say, I did not quite expected your performance out there, young boy. I think you've exceeded my expectations." He complimented.

"Well, it's nothing. In fact, that was my first time!" Lincoln rubbed the back of his neck, feeling slightly embarrassed at the amount of attention he was getting.

"No need to be too modest kid, you did something, and that's good enough."

"Attention, Mr. Abraham, your presence is needed at the principal's office. Someone is here to see you." A voice from the intercom announced.

"Aw shucks, looks like we'll have to cut this short. I'll see you later." He bid to his students with his usual smile before he turned his back on them, his face shifting to a slightly more serious expression. Why would anyone want to see him, on his first day teaching? Not that he had anymore relatives.

"However, I do suggest you kids go get changed up and head back to class. Until of course, I come back." He turned again with his smile, so as to not raise suspicions.

The students, boys and girls, joyously rushed to their respective changing rooms. Zed took his leave not long afterwards.

* * *

As Zed walked down the halls leading to the principal's office, now back in the attire he wore on the first session, he pulled back his sleeves and pressed a button on his wristwatch. He let his suit's sleeve roll back down as a light shone brightly from his watch. Luckily, nobody seemed to have noticed it.

* * *

"You know, I think I'm really starting to like that new teacher." Lincoln said while walking with Clyde, heading for the class.

"Not like you didn't."

"Hey Lame-O, wait up." Came Ronnie Anne's voice, who joined up with them soon.

"Hey there, Ronnie Anne!" Clyde cheerfully greeted their other friend or, questionably, Lincoln's girlfriend.

"Nice job out there." Said the girl while giving a playful punch.

"Hah, thanks." Lincoln laughed lightly at his "girlfriend"'s response to his victory at the gym.

"So, what are you guys going to do now?" She asked them both, despite already knowing what their answer's going to be.

"Well you know, get back to class and wait until Mr. Abe comes back."

"Right, smell you guys later then." Ronnie Anne said as she walked away from the two.

"Yeah, okay."

Upon arriving at class, the two boys found that the place was in absolute chaos. Clearly, they weren't the first ones to arrive. They both quickly searched for where their seats was once located.

"Heh, just when we thought it was going to be calm in this place." Clyde began.

"I wouldn't count on that." The Loud boy commented on his friend's thought.

Lincoln also thought of trying out if the effects on his reflexes during the match was truly permanent. Never would he have expected it to be tested out in the strangest ways.

* * *

On one end of a room, sat an old man probably in his fifties on a chair, said man is none other than Principal Huggins. Just across the room was another man who, judging from looks alone, should be around 30 years or so. But of course, it is best that assumptions aren't made. As the saying goes, don't judge a book by its' cover. It had been quiet since the announcement was made.

A knock from the door eventually broke the silence.

"Ah yes, come in." Huggins signaled the visitor to enter the room.

With a twist from the knob, the door opened and from it, came Mr. Abraham. Despite the urgency heard from the Huggins' voice during the announcement, Abe didn't lock the door behind him after closing it since privacy would have been much needed. However, that was not the current matter at hand.

"Principal Huggins? I heard that someone wanted to see me?" Asked the young man, not knowing where the person who wanted to meet him was. Or, pretending to not know.

"Of course, there he is." The principal answered and pointed at the man standing not far from him.

With a turn of his head, Abraham set his gaze on the man who asked for his presence in the room. The two stared down for a while, much like the situation in the gym before. It would appear that Abraham knows the person, seeing as how tense he looked. But the way he covers it up makes it so that only his guest could tell. Not that he would want the principal to know that. Speaking of the principal, Huggins went back to his work.

"I hope you two wouldn't mind, " He coughed, "I'll just be here, back to my own devices."

"Right, since you're here, I guess I can start now huh?" The visitor began.

"You may."

"As you may have known and see now, 'Zed', the others and I have decided to come again! But I guess you could say I'm a bit disappointed since you, um, weren't quite expecting even my arrival."

"No, I'm always expecting." Zed responded to the man's claim, placing his hands in his pocket.

"Then I suppose you know where this conversation's heading then huh?" Responded the stranger in an oddly joyous tone.

"Of course." Zed slowly lowered his head, his gaze still locked on to the man.

"I can't believe it's been twenty years." This unexpected answer caught Principal Huggins' attention.

As soon as the principal set his eyes on the two, they immediately disappeared in a blur, much to his surprise. Things took a turn for the worse when he could finally register what actually happened. Right in front of his face, was a clawed hand belonging to the man who desired to visit the new teacher. Zed was right beside "him", his left arm was used to hold back whatever this new creature is by the neck. The young teacher kept a tight grip on the other hand of the strange visitor under the clawed one while clutching that one under his armpit to prevent the claw from going any further. He used his right hand to push the beastly creature's elbow upwards to secure the lock.

Once Huggins swallowed all of that, his eyes widened and his pupils shrank, a look of terror was on his face.

"Principal?" Zed started, getting Huggins' attention, "I suggest you warn the entire school to evacuate and then get out of this place."

However, the principal was still in shock and couldn't bring himself to move.

"Go!" shouted Zed, finally breaking Huggins from his current state.

"Right!" The elderly principal jumped off his seat and searched for the mic.

"Hold still now, Barzal." Zed struggled to keep the visibly furious "man" in check.

"At least you haven't gotten rusty." Retorted the beast-like man. He was now beginning to look like his skin was about to be ripped apart and when it did, it revealed a light-brown skin that looked more like countless plastic toys in the shape of diamonds glued together very tightly.

"Attention all students and staffs of the school!" Huggins' voice echoed through the various speakers located around the school, "You are all required to get out of this place as soon as possible!"

Barzal growled, knowing that his chance at slaughtering everyone in the school was gone. He looked as if he calmed down, before yanking his arms away from Zed with great force. The young teacher was shocked at this and was punched towards principal Huggins, who was knocked unconscious the moment Zed landed on him.

"It doesn't matter, the others too are coming, and you will not be prepared enough when the end comes again." Barzal scoffed at Zed, before spreading his arms wide. He began emitting a bright red glow, forcing his opponent to shield his eyes. When the light disappeared, so did he. Following his disappearance, a loud shaking can be felt all throughout the school, leading to some parts of the school collapsing.

"Damn it." Zed growled before looking behind him to see the principal. He took one last glance out the window, where he felt as if all of his senses were telling him something, something he already knew before turning back to carry Huggins over his shoulder and made his way out of the room.

"Those kids better be alright!" He mentally shouted to himself.

* * *

In the midst of all the chaos, a boy and his friend sped through the halls of the school. They made several quick turns whilst navigating the building. The boy looked extremely worried, almost as if his heart was going to burst out of his chest due to it pounding repeatedly and uncontrollably, his friend was just as worried.

The two finally arrived in front of a debris where a certain classroom was situated. They immediately began digging through whatever piles they could. During that, another large structure fell from above, forcing them to back away.

From within, a voice, no, several voices were calling out for help. One of them just happened to be of one of the boy's younger sisters.

"Lincoln, help us!" shouted a young girl wearing a pink dress that was now all dirty and torn up in some places. Her voice raspy from the dust that was limiting her and the others' view and quite audibly terrified.

"Don't worry! I'm coming for you guys!" Lincoln responded to what little he could hear from his sister's cries for help. He tried once more pushing away some of the larger rubble but was frustrated when he ultimately couldn't, he angrily slammed at the aforementioned rubble before calling out once more to his sisters, "Lola! Lana! Lisa! Lucy!"

Chapter End.

Whew, sorry if it got a little repetitive around the end! I am even more sorry at the fact that this was dragged out a bit longer than I expected it to be. Also, some sentences may be hard to understand since I couldn't find a better way to word them properly.

Once again, I'm sorry for beating around the bush still. I should have introduced the one essential part of a tokusatsu or at least a story that's based on one, but hopefully you can remain patient still since it won't be too long until then.


	5. Chapter 5 Early Release

Chapter 5.

Lincoln grunted loudly in an attempt to budge the large rocks even slightly, he had found a broken reinforcing rod and placed a rock under it with one end stuck under a debris. Using the rod as a leverage, he pushed as hard as he could the other side of the rod, his friend joining him not long after in his effort to save his sisters and the other students that were trapped underneath all of the rubble.

"Argh! Move, you darn rock!" The Loud boy shouted in frustration and once again slammed his fist on to the one thing that stands between him and his sisters.

"What's going on here?" Came a voice from behind, gaining both the boys' attention, "Why aren't you two out yet?"

"Please help us, Mr. Abe! Lincoln's sisters and a few other students are trapped under all those rocks!" Clyde explained the situation to their teacher who still had Huggins over his shoulder.

"Right, of course. You take care of principal Huggins!" Zed agreed to help and laid the man he mentioned on the floor before rushing forward to where the lever was, still remaining in its' place.

"Whoa! What happened to him!?" Lincoln's friend asked. Referring to principal Huggins.

"A little bit of this and that." Replied their teacher simply while keeping a tight grip on the rod.

Taking in a deep breath, he braced himself and let out a loud yell as he pressed down on the rod's end, which actually managed to overcome the weight of the large rock and dislodged it from its' place. The rock then rolled down and away from the rest of the debris, clearing a way for Zed and his two students.

The three made their way through the small entrance due to not wanting to damage anything lest they cause another collapse. In it, several students ranging from 4 to at least around Lincoln's age were all either sitting while tending to their own injuries or laid on their back, almost passing out from their injuries or the smoke.

"Alright everyone! Those who are still able to walk, try to make your way out of here calmly. We can't take much risk now seeing as you are currently." Zed told the students.

"Lola! Lana!" Lincoln ran up to his twin sisters and gave them a hug, the former crying into his chest while the latter held back her tears.

"Wait, where's Lisa and Lucy? Were they here with you guys?"

"She's right there," Lana pointed to where the two aforementioned sisters were, the former had been tending to the injuries of an unconscious teacher, Mrs. Shrinivas. While the latter looked on.

"What happened?" Lincoln shouted out to his sister, getting her attention.

"Mrs. S had suffered extreme physical trauma after she tried to save us from the falling debris and…" She paused, "I can't believe I'm saying this but just before we were trapped in here, we were chased down by these strange hooligans that look like they were dressed in spandex suits."

"Alright now, be ca- What!?" Zed shouted in surprise as he turned his head to the child prodigy. His shouting stopped Clyde, who had been escorting the children and fellow schoolmates to safety, right in his tracks.

The teacher then set his sights on the other end of the confinement and walked up to it. He slowly peeked out a hole that was big enough for him to properly register what's going on on the other side. He then gulped down nervously

Seeing his reaction was enough for the remaining children to understand that was a signal for an imminent danger.

Zed back away from the wall of debris and looked up worriedly. He clenched his fists and turned around to look at the children with a surprisingly calm face. Or at least that's what it was in their eyes.

"Hurry, we really don't have much time now, try to carry her out of here," He informed his students in a manner so calm they thought nothing was actually wrong. That, was a wrong choice on their part.

Just then, parts of the roof came down, causing everyone to cover up their mouths, noses and eyes so as to not let the dust get in any of those mentioned bodily openings. Once the dust cleared off a bit, what caused it revealed itself. It's like what Lisa said, a creature that looks like a person inside a spandex suit.

While it looked laughable to everyone in the area, Zed stared down at it, trying to keep it distracted by having someone make eye contact with it. Similar to how some wild animals would stop once eye contact is made, signaling to it that what they are facing down is not an easy prey. Of course, these were all how it was viewed as from behind.

Zed held the collar of his suit close to his nose and mouth while keeping his eyes protected from what's left of the dust. He kept his gaze still, right on this creature's "eye". A red circle around the size of a fist, black rims around it. At the back of its' head is a strange bony crest. On its' chest is a mark that greatly worries Zed, which of course, nobody knows of. A sideways hexagonal ring that takes up a large portion of its' torso followed by a few more smaller ones and ending with one red hexagon in the middle.

In its' hand was a firmly grasped staff that had a bone-like appearance to it, more specifically a spine. On one end it ended in a tailbone while the other end was a sizable sphere, around the size of a head.

There it stood, right in front of Zed, crouched down with the staff weapon in hand. Staring intently at the man in front.

In one blurry motion, the creature spun the staff around, now facing to its' left where Lisa was still at, waiting for any sort of help in carrying Mrs. Shrinivas to safety. The action took everyone in the room by surprise. Then the creature swung downwards.

The young genius screamed in terror while she tried to protect her teacher with her small body. Then nothing, save for a hard impact sound and a grunt. Opening her eyes, she was taken aback by what happened.

Zed had been struck hard on his back, the creature was still exerting much force, so much so that he was still being pushed.

He chuckled a bit before coughing up blood due to the damage done. Lincoln ran over to his sister and looked at Zed, who motioned them to carry the kindergarten teacher to safety while he held the staff to prevent the creature from going anywhere.

The young man knew something about these creatures, he also knew that they were quite simple-minded and weren't capable of proper thinking and thus it wouldn't let go of the weapon even when it was forced to. Zed used this to his advantage.

With how strongly it was yanking the weapon, Zed decided that it was time to let go. Upon doing so, the creature unknowingly put itself in a pinch, it gave one last yank. A strong one. Which sent it tumbling backwards now that there was no opposing force, giving Zed a good opening to give one good strike.

He balled up his fists, pulled his arm backwards and thrust it forward, and landed a heavy strike right on the creature's "face". Further pushing it away but still not enough to knock it away let alone incapacitate it.

The creature became highly aggravated at his retaliation and held up its' weapon tightly within its' grip while screeching loudly, showing the high levels of resilience it possessed.

One sideways swipe of the staff threw Zed off his feet and a good few meters away despite having blocked the attack. He landed right behind Lincoln who had just finished carrying the unconscious teacher to safety, the other kids waited not far from them, afraid of getting lost.

"Mr. Abe!" The boy shouted.

"What the- No, get out of here!" Zed shouted at the young boy and tried to block another strike from the enemy.

"But-"

"No! You have to get out of here, quick!" He insisted before rolling away to avoid a downward strike.

Lincoln growled in frustration as he ran out of the battle zone and looked around to see if he could help in any way. His leg hit something when he was about to make a move. He looked down to see the rod that they used. His eyes widened when he finally got an idea.

Zed wrestled with the creature in an attempt to disarm it. He'd received many more damage while he struggled with it, more than he had delivered to it.

"Mr. Abe!" called out a familiar voice. The man turned to see Lincoln standing at the small exit, "Try slamming that thing against the rocks!"

Without hesitation, Zed mustered his strength and pulled at the creature's weapon, catching it off guard after having lost its' footing and was knocked in the face using its' own weapon after Zed continued with a push.

This fazed it long enough for the young man to turn it around and force it onto the wall with a slam strong enough to slightly dislodge one of the rocks holding most of the debris in place.

Lincoln ran outside and to his friend and sisters who had been preparing themselves. They managed to find another reinforcing rod and decided to use two to further drive out the the previously loosened rock, he positioned himself on one of them where Clyde was waiting for him.

"Ready?" He asked and the others nodded.

With a mighty thrust, the 6 of them ejected the rock from its' position, causing another collapse right on top of the dazed creature inside. However, they had overdone it and this made the outcome more worrisome. The ceiling was completely gone and Zed was nowhere to be seen.

"Wait a minute, where is he?" Questioned the Loud boy.

They were about to panic when a muffled voice called out to them. The kids ran to where they heard it and found Zed stuck under even more rubble with the only thing that kept him from being crushed is the creature's weapon. They all let out a sigh of relief upon finding out that he had survived.

"Ironic, isn't it?" Zed laughed slightly, referring to the weapon.

"Quite." Lisa agreed while adjusting her glasses.

"Right, mind helping me out? I think I've exhausted myself from that fight." He requested, given that there were still some of the rocks blocking his way from being able to crawl out.

The Loud kids and the lone McBride looked at each other and nodded at him before running up to where they could provide help in reducing the amount of stress the debris were causing. The students who were able rushed in to help them in letting the man out from his imprisonment. With that many people, it didn't take too long for them to finally clear out a path.

"Agh, good grief." Zed sighed as he crawled out. He got up and gave himself a few stretches after having stayed almost motionless for the past several minutes. It's a surprise he managed to keep calm during that time.

"Thanks, kids. You know, it would really be better if we could always be like that, don't you think?" He asked them and was replied with several nods and a few verbal agreement.

"Now, let's g-" He was cut short by the sound of moving rocks. He turned around to see the creature slowly lumbering towards its' weapon, causing him to go wide-eyed.

He looked around in search for his own weapon and once again, set his sights on the reinforcing bar. _This is probably going to be third time this thing is relied on_ , he thought to himself but gave no more time for him to think before jumping towards the object and holding it tight in his hands. Giving himself a push off the ground, he ran over to the creature and struck it hard on the head, stunning it momentarily. Just enough, however, for him to gather the last of his fighting spirit to swing the rod to his side in a manner similar to that of a professional batter.

The impact from the hit was enough to forcefully throw it a good several feet away from him.

Zed let out his sigh of relief once he saw the creature had gone fully limp once it had landed atop the rubble. Without anymore foes in sight, he let go of the rod, which made a loud clang.

Just then, they could hear groans and turned to see the two previously unconscious teachers had now woken up after having knocked out cold for the rest of the fight.

"What happened? Ough…" Principal Huggins held his head and adjusted his vision and turned to the side where the commotion had been.

He was surprised to see the damage right before his eyes and is in for more surprises when he saw the body of the strange creature that had been trying to claim the lives of his students and fellow teachers. Right next to it was also the substitute teacher, Zed.

"Principal Huggins!" Lincoln and his sisters ran up to their principal, save for Lisa, who instead chose to walk up to her teacher.

"What happened here?" Asked the worried man.

"It's a long story." Lincoln chuckled.

"Mind telling me then?" Huggins inquired.

"You guys wait here, I'm going to scout ahead to look for a safe exit." Zed informed the others. The others of course, couldn't really say no to that since none of them are in any shape to volunteer.

* * *

While Lincoln and the others told Huggins of what strange event had just unfolded, Zed had found a way outside and saw the town was still dealing with heavy assault from presumably creatures similar to the ones they had just encountered.

"And that's what happened." Lincoln finished up.

"That's, a lot to take in, but at least you're all okay."

"Yeah, we wouldn't be right now if it hadn't been for Mr. Abe." Added the Loud boy.

"Speak of the devil." Clyde chimed in as he spotted their teacher walking back to their location.

"Alright, I've found an exit," He began, the students became excited but was stopped when he announced something else, "But, it's not remotely safe outside. Best we can do is try to look for any police officers and see if there's been any shelters set up."

"Sounds good enough. It may not amount to much, but it's the best we've got." Huggins accepted the idea quite well.

Zed walked up to the rod once more and picked it up again, worried that their escape may require him to engage in combat.

"Ready?" He asked, wanting to make sure and like before, he received nod of agreement but this time accompanied with a slightly more cheery tone, "Let's go then."

With that, they took off, somewhat ready to face what else these strange creatures has to throw at them.

Chapter End.

First off, I'm sorry if this was a bit too daunting to read, like a certain reviewer's comment before, but I thought it won't feel satisfying to end it earlier. Apologies too if this chapter focused a bit too much on Zed.

Anyway, don't worry, the next chapter is coming soon. By that, I mean in at least a week from now but until then, hang in there.


	6. Chapter 6 Getting out of town

Before you guys begin reading, I'd like to apologize in advance due to the length of the story.

Chapter 6.

Zed and Lincoln peeked out from a broken wall where the former had found his way out moments prior. They looked around to make sure none of those creatures were prowling about and gave the signal to the others as they moved out.

They found themselves taking cover under and behind some things that could work as hiding spots for them with every few steps taken.

Lincoln had been asked to help Zed out being the main scouts and so far, he had been taking his job quite seriously and has upheld his task quite well. Perhaps this was due to him being reminded of his favorite comic book hero, Ace Savvy, and took this opportunity to imagine himself being in the hero's shoes.

He was rolling around from cover to cover like he usually would when he role-plays as the savviest crime fighter. But another strange tingle down his neck stopped him in his tracks.

"Whoa."

"I felt that too." Zed told him from behind.

Right after that, something from beyond the horizon came into view as it headed towards the group. Landing on the ground between Lincoln and Zed, the two walked up to it.

It took a moment before Zed could finally see what it was, "Oh, shoot! Get away!" He shouted, which sent everyone running quickly from the strange object as far as possible.

He too had gotten away from it and jumped away to push himself further from the blast radius as the device, went off.

"What was that!?" Lincoln shouted, clearly surprised from the stray object making its' arrival.

"Yep, that was a bomb," Zed got up while rubbing his neck after having landed hard on the ground, "But this thing is different, this one has a molecular disruption effect." He added while brushing off the dust from his suit.

"What does that mean?" Clyde chimed in between the two.

"He means that whoever is hit by the blast will be disassembled on a molecular level should they take the full brunt of the explosion's force." Lisa explained.

"Just imagine what will happen when you drop yourself in a ball pit." Zed simplified.

"May I inquire how you know this?" Lisa quirked an eyebrow at the man.

"Let's just say I have knowledge that's best if it's not shared." Zed smiled at the young Loud.

"This is very educational and all but how about we move on? We need to get these students to safety first" Principal Huggins interrupted the two, showing his concern for the kids.

"Of course." Zed nodded and walked back to the front of the group, leaving Lisa behind, who showed suspicions about the man.

Zed and Lincoln then began leading the group again and were coming to one edge of the school. Just like before, the two peeked out from behind it and saw, nothing, fortunately.

They slowly made their way around to the school's front yard where the damage on the town was much more visible. The sight was an intimidating one to look at. Zed tried to calm the younger ones who were sobbing audibly in nothing else but fear of what could have happened.

While they tried taking in what they had just seen, a car pulled up on the road, or a van to be exact. Out came several girls aging around the early teens til the mid. They all ran around the front yard, trying to search for certain people.

"Lincoln!" A voice came from the other side, belonging to that of Luna Loud.

"Lola! Lana?" Another one shouted, although it sounded much lighter in comparison to the first, this was Leni.

"Lisa? Come on now, we don't have time to play hide-n-seek." Shouted the family joker, Luan, in an effort to light up the situation.

"Where are they? They better be alright." Lori said in frustration.

The first few calls had already gotten the group's attention. It was only then that the five older Loud sisters came into view when they came around the wall.

"Lincoln!" They all shouted, happy now that they've found their only brother.

"Lori!"

"Leni!"

"Luna! Luan!"

"Lynn."

Lola, Lana, Lisa and Lucy called out the Loud sisters' names in that respective order and ran over to their older siblings to give them a hug in which Lincoln was caught in.

Meanwhile, Zed simply stood there, wide-eyed from the shock upon hearing their names. No wonder the names sounded familiar.

"Girls?" He finally spoke up, getting the attention of the Loud siblings, who were just as surprised to see him.

"Mr. Abraham!?" Lori broke herself from the hug.

"I didn't know you guys know each other." Lincoln remarked on the situation.

"Of course we do, Lincoln. Mr. Abraham used to teach at our school for a good 3 weeks before he left around last week."

"So, you girls are related to this boy huh?" Zed scratched his head before adding, "Anyway, I'd love to hear more about your family but for now, we're going to need to get you guys to safety."

"Yeah! Come on Lincoln!" The twins said to the Loud boy.

"We're going to need to pack some stuff up. There's been numerous shelter set up on the outskirts of the town." Lori informed them.

"Okay, we'll meet up there then?" Zed proposed.

"Wait, are you gonna be okay?"

"I'll be alright." Zed gave the boy a reassuring smile and a thumbs up.

"Don't worry Lincoln, you've seen what he can do." Clyde also tried to reassure the worried Loud.

Still feeling heavyhearted over having to leave behind the group he had been sticking with for quite a good amount of time, Lincoln went ahead with his sisters into the family van, Vanzilla.

"Hey wait, can Clyde come with us?" He asked his sisters.

"What for?" Lori sighed.

"C'mon, it can't be that bad." The others interjected, much to Clyde's excitement.

"Fine." Lori groaned.

Just as Lincoln was about to get into the passenger seat, he was thrown aside by Clyde, who enthusiastically got in first, forcing Lincoln to join up with the others in the back.

Lori got into the car and closed the door before frowning at Clyde, who was just staring at her, while putting on her seat belts. He glanced at the boy for a bit before speaking up.

"Seat belts." She ordered him, and he happily complied.

The teen sighed before starting up the van again and drove away. The groups behind then moved out once they were out of sight.

* * *

Along the road, the ring tone on Lincoln's phone sounded. He quickly picked it up to answer.

"Hello?" He asked before the news from the caller shocked him, "Mom? Dad?" This also got the attention of his sisters.

"Oh my gosh, are you guys okay? Is Lily safe?" He questioned away anxiously. He breathed out a sigh of relief upon hearing that the three of them are safe at least.

"Yeah, yeah, okay. We'll see you soon, love you mom." He put away his phone and placed his hand on his head.

"What's wrong? Are they okay?" Lynn asked him.

"They're alright, they made it to the shelter with Lily." He slumped back on the car seat to try and ease his mind.

"Hey Lynn? Mind if I call Lincoln over? There's something I need to talk to him about, in private." Lisa said from the back seat.

"Not really." The sporty Loud replied.

Lincoln then carefully moved to the back seat, with Lola and Lana moving to the front. The others were focused on their journey, and on what to do. The boy then sat down next to the young genius.

"What is it, Lisa?"

"It's about the belt." Lincoln gasped at the topic she brought up.

"Right, what about it?"

"Have you told anyone else about it?"

"Not really, I've only told Clyde about it but other than him, no one else."

"Good, because I have a sneaking suspicion that your teacher might have some knowledge regarding it. And I don't think he is as good-natured as you think he is."

"What? Why would you say that?"

"Connect the dots, Lincoln! Him knowing what the bomb was, fighting on equal grounds with that creature! Not to mention, reacting to something that didn't even appear yet! What if he had something to do with all of this!?" Lisa shouted, but still quiet enough for her to not attract any unwanted attention.

"Come on, Lisa! Sure he's abnormally strong, and fast, and… " Lincoln paused.

"Something else crawled into your mind?"

"One thing that might be relevant. When I shook his hand this morning when class began, I felt this strange sensation like a chill down my spine!" From that onwards, he went wide-eyed due to a realization, "And he wasn't even bothered by how I reacted. He didn't even ask me what was wrong."

"I told you, just what if?"

"But that's not a reason to blame him!" Lincoln tried ignoring his sister's accusations.

"Didn't all of this happen not too long after that announcement was made?" Lisa threw in, what is according to her, one last evidence.

"Come on, I really don't want to talk about this anymore. How could you say that this was all his fault?"

"Alright! We're almost there! I can see our house!" Lori happily spoke up.

The Loud house was strange, not that its' been changed or anything. It was, intact. This fact had gotten the Loud siblings and the lone McBride staring at it. Lori quickly brought it onto the driveway.

"What?" Lincoln uttered.

The van was entering the driveway when they saw a light that looked like what would happen if it was directed on a reflective surface. Having been taken by surprise by that, the 11 people in the van screamed as Vanzilla was still moving towards whatever this thing is. Despite having stepped on the brakes, the momentum kept them moving forward still, albeit slower.

The van was expected to at least bump into this strange thing, but instead, they just went through it. The areas around the front of the family car glowed brightly in light blue. It looked like a barrier of some sort.

"What is this thing?" Clyde looked up in amazement, seeing a circular glow of the same color. He understood that the one above was the top.

"If I was a vampire, I'd probably die by now." Lucy spoke up, referring to the bright light, dragging away the others from their amazement at the weird construct.

"O…Kay… Right, let's get inside!" Lincoln suggested. The others nodded.

They all quickly headed inside since the door wasn't locked, indicating that their parents may have came back to get their own stuffs and left hurriedly without knowing that the house is protected. Granted, given their situation.

While all the other sisters followed each other into their own rooms, Lisa and by extension for knowing about Lincoln's secret, Clyde, followed the Loud boy into his room to find something that might prove to be one thing that may hold the answer to their situation.

Once they got inside, they closed the door to prevent anyone from seeing them. Lincoln slowly walked to his bed and crouched down, and unlike before, he hoped the belt was still there. Sure enough, it is.

He reached out his hand to grab it and received an electrical shock upon contact. He reeled back at the sudden reaction and reached out again, now prepared should the belt try the same trick again. It didn't. He safely grabbed it an took it out from under his bed.

"Whoa." Clyde looked awestruck the moment he set his eyes on the gadget.

"Don't you suppose that this thing is what's holding up that dome?" Lisa asked.

"Huh?"

"Look at this." She pointed at the now different buckle. It looked like it's transformed into a bigger rectangle with curved edges. It now have what seemed to be a display screen showing a a glowing dome.

"Well, would you look at that."

"Lincoln, hurry up! We're leaving! We need to get to Mom and Dad!" Lori shouted while knocking on the door.

"Just a moment!" Lincoln said while trying to look around for his bag.

"Huh, where's my bag?"

"Uhh, we left it at school when the attack started." Clyde reminded him.

"Oh, that's right."

"How are we going to get this thing out now?"

"Leave it to me." Lisa said.

The family, including the one McBride child finally left the house after gathering all they needed. Lagging behind was Lisa who decided to bring many of her scientific equipment. A ruse, she planned to mix the belt into her collection of apparatuses in hope that it would blend in well.

"Ugh, Lisa, do you really need to bring that much?" Lori stood in front of her, trying to prevent the young genius from cramming in too much of her stuff inside.

"Unfortunately, yes. There are many ways I could be needed in the shelter. For example, there might be people who are sick, insufficient ingredients needed for medicine-"

"Stop right there," Lori halted her before she could ramble on and on, "Fine, get in."

"Thank you." Lisa smiled confidently, happy knowing that her plan worked.

"Yes!" Lincoln and Clyde both silently celebrated. The latter had decided to stick with both Lincoln and Lisa for now at the back seat.

The group once again took off, leaving behind the Loud house. While they were looking outside, Lincoln and Clyde watched as the protective dome disappeared.

* * *

After a relatively safer journey than when the sisters first moved out, they finally arrived on the outskirts of the town where police officers had medical camps set up. Thankfully, they also happened to have emergency shelters.

Hearing the sound of a van pulling up, Rita and Lynn Loud Sr. Looked to see that their children, have arrived safely.

They quickly ran over to the family car, relieved by the sight of their 10 other children made it to them.

"Oh, I'm so glad you guys made it here!" Rita hugged the two oldest Loud kids.

"Hah ha! That's our children, alright!" Lynn Sr. laughed heartily.

"Goo goo!" Lily made the only sounds she could, expressing her happiness in seeing her older siblings again.

"Aww, sorry Lily. Did you miss us?" Lori took hold of the baby, "Sorry we made you feel worried."

"Didn't think you'd actually make it here without losing a limb or so." Came the voice of a familiar man.

"Mr. Abe!" Lincoln and Clyde ran up to him.

"Glad you guys could make it."

"Yeah. Say, where's the principal? And the others?" Lincoln asked.

"Oh yeah, they're safe now, don't worry."

"Clyde!"

"Dad!?" The lone McBride kid ran up to his fathers.

"Oh son! We're glad to have you back! Isn't that right Hare-Bear?" Howard brought their child into a big hug.

Zed smiled at the sight, it reminded him of his own childhood. How great it is to have loving parents to come back to.

However, their moments of happiness was cut short by the questionably, unexpected, arrival of the strange creatures.

"Whoa, whoa!" Zed ushered the others to move while the officers fired their guns at the small group of creatures, only for the bullets to either be deflected by their abnormally superhuman reflexes or them easily side-stepping the bullets.

One of them managed to get past through and was headed for the civilians. Thankfully, Zed managed to step up and take it by surprise by tackling it.

"Mr. Abe!" Shouted the Loud siblings.

"Go! I got this!" He said, receiving multiple kicks to his back while he restrained it.

"Watch out!" Lisa warned them when one of the grenades from before came into sight.

They were far enough from the fatal blast radius but they were all still thrown away by the less lethal but just as dangerous shock wave.

* * *

Lincoln slowly opened up his eyes, all he could hear was a loud ringing. He felt extremely dizzy for having taken the blast. He wanted and tried to get up but his legs gave up on him. His eyes darted to and fro, and saw chaos everywhere. His parents were knocked out, Lori was holding on tightly to Lily, who was crying. The others too have suffered grievous damage. Turning again, he saw Zed, who was barely holding against the creature while the officers kept shooting and failing. Some were getting slaughtered. He felt only disappointment, he could hear thoughts about how he was pathetic and couldn't even save his family. Those weren't his.

He turned to look at Lisa, where the belt was and saw it lying just next to the young genius. The thoughts intensified when he set his eyes on it, he could hear how it was berating him. He never expected this, he only thought that he's gone mad because of its' effects.

"Wake up, it's not even over yet." He heard a voice.

"Who… ?" He weakly forced out a reply.

"Why don't you get up and stop that?"

For some reason, he could gather enough strength to get up again after hearing those words. He found himself crawling towards the belt as fast as he could with his damaged limbs.

"Was that… You?" He held up the belt. But from it, no reply came.

"I'd expect as much…" He chuckled.

When he was about to put it back down, he heard a loud pulsating noise. Very similar to the one from before. With that, he felt the urge to strap it onto his waist… And does so.

He felt a powerful energy building up within him. His body felt like it was being heated up, possibly the belt's attempt in pulling him away from death's embrace?

Thankfully no one was close enough, or conscious, to witness the following events. Lincoln was surrounded by a bright, orange pillar of light. In it, he could see his body being covered by these strange orange things that looks like clothes of some sort. It replaced his clothes with what seemed to be a tight suit which left his hands and feet free. White gloves and boots began to form there. His head was covered in a ball of light which then takes a more defined form, making his helmet.

The visor then appeared soon after, it looked like a thick, double-pointed oval that curved upwards on both sides. On his chest, a marking appeared, taking the form of a diamond with a downwards pointing arrow starting from the middle contained in a gray-colored rectangle. White triangular markings then appeared on both his shoulders.

Then, the light dissipated, revealing Lincoln in his new form. He looked on through his visor, surprised at what just happened. He held his hands up and then checked his body to see that he was all different now. Not only that, his height too had been slightly increased, rivaling that of Lori's.

He then let out a scream that made him the target of every one of those creatures.

"Prepare yourself." Was all he could hear in his head. All he could do now was get ready for the incoming creatures.

Chapter End.

I'm very sorry that it took this long for the form to be introduced.

This was dragged out longer than I thought possible, even for me. Good-A-Lord. I am especially sorry over the fact that this may feel like a chore to read, or intimidating.

Anyway, Chapter 7. will come out not too long after this.

Early notice: After Chapter 8 is out, I will be putting the story on a hiatus. I've been lagging behind and I thought I wouldn't be able to catch up in time and leave the story hanging once that happens.


	7. Chapter 7 The first battle

A/N: Here it is, the long overdue battle chapter. Part 1.

Chapter 7.

Lincoln took up a very simple fighting stance, his fists raised, back hunched, and knees bent while the legs are set apart.

The creatures then quickly set their eyes on Lincoln, seeing him as the only true threat at the area. They slowly began walking up to him and circled around the boy after stopping just several meters away.

Inside the boy's mind was the one thought that could pass at the moment: Fear. However, he brushed it off, thinking that he is the only one who stands between the lives of the civilians and those monsters.

Zed struggled to get up due to having received heavy damage all over his body. He turned to see the police officers standing in place out of fear, or tending to those who were wounded, or moving away the bodies of those who had fallen victim. Surprisingly, he wasn't too affected by the sight of dead people, reacting with only an angered expression. With the people's focus now on the imminent brawl, he took the chance to get out of the scene.

A loud screech was heard, and the first attack was initiated. The one behind Lincoln jumped up towards him with a weapon unlike the first one in its' hand. This one wielded a strange bladed weapon the length of its' arm held in-between a handle.

The Loud boy could feel the creature's presence but couldn't react in time and was struck in the back. The skritching of the blades and Lincoln's suit caused sparks to burst out, hinting at its' metallic characteristics.

Lincoln grunted in pain as he was hit, but found the it to be quite bearable. he quickly recovered from the attack and backhanded the creature away with amazing speed and force, much to his opponents' surprise. They all began screeching at him like wild animals.

"Whoa!" He exclaimed, before bringing his hands in front of his face.

His enhanced reflexes surprised him yet again as he stepped away to dodge an incoming attack from an unarmed creature. The creature moved with even greater speed than it already was, it quickly turned to where Lincoln was and managed to throw a punch to his chest.

The attack connected and Lincoln tensed up when the creature's fist made contact. Still having a large amount of energy left, he quickly countered by delivering a strong kick to his opponent's stomach, or at least where it should be, and sent it flying back several meters away.

Having let his guard down, Lincoln was pounced by at least a few more of those creatures. Before he even knew it, he had been dog piled under the massive weight of the critters combined.

" _Agh! Come on, what can I do at times like these?_ " He thought to himself while he was being restrained by the creatures' remaining free limbs.

Just after he mused on that, the belt blinked a bright orange light from the display screen several times, and Lincoln heard it. Inside his head, he had been given an idea on how he could escape from his current situation. The only catch however, is risking injuring nearby civilians. Seeing no other way out of this, he agreed to it.

Once again, the belt's screen glowed brightly, releasing a large wave of energy that sent the creatures flying away in every direction, including those who hadn't piled up on him.

He took a moment to assess the situation before getting back up. The belt's action took him by complete surprise, he looked at his body and saw that he suffered no damage from that move. He leaned forward when he heard hissing and gasped after seeing his belt releasing small amounts of smoke from it.

"Are you okay?" He asked as he held the belt.

The gadget simply blinked a few times, telling him that it was nothing he should be worried about.

"Oh, good." He sighed and scanned the area. As far as he could tell, he managed to dispose most of those hostile barbarians. He rushed off to see to his family so he can make sure that they get out of the soon-to-be war zone.

He went to his parents first and crouched down next to them, inspecting their injuries. The Loud boy placed his hand on his face and mumbled under his breath in a worried tone, upon closer inspection, he found the damage to be quite worrisome.

Several police officers came to him soon. Worried at the thought of getting incarcerated, he rose up and raised his hands, "Wait! I'm not one of them!" He pleaded, his voice sounding slightly deeper. His reaction was met with the officers' confused expression.

"What are you talking about?" One of them quirked up an eyebrow.

Lincoln slowly opened his eyes from behind the visors, "Y-you're not going to take me away?" His question received a round of laughter from them. Not knowing what exactly to do, he chuckled along with the officers.

"Take you away?" An officer said, glancing between his fellow officers and Lincoln, "The person who had just saved us all?"

"Oh." Lincoln didn't expect that reply, more so after having put on that show.

"Alright now! Let's get all those who are injured to safety!" He ordered.

Seeing the officers all lending him a helping hand in carrying his family as well as his friend and his family to safety was enough to make him happy again. He looked over to his side and saw the one he just talked to carrying away his parents with the help of another officer.

"Thank you." He whispered.

* * *

Somewhere, where the people weren't at risk, one particular girl looked on at the aftermath of the battle from inside of one of the camps. So much for thinking that nobody saw him when he transformed.

"Whoa! Did you see that!?" Ronnie Anne asked. Hearing no reply from her brother, she looked behind her to see him cowering in fear.

"Bobby!" She shouted, getting his attention.

"Wha!?" The teenager jumped, and looked over to his sister, "Is it over?"

"Yeah, come on! Look!"

The two Santiago siblings looked out on the field to see the officers laying the Loud family down near the camps with the new mysterious person helping them out. It seems that they didn't see him.

* * *

"Sorry I'm late, guys!" Came a voice.

" _Mr. Abe?_ " Lincoln turned to look at his teacher running towards them with team of medic not far behind.

"Right, so you're the one who saved us, right?" He placed his hands on his hips.

"That is, correct." Lincoln replied, still having to look up slightly just to meet his eyes.

"Well, you have our gratitude for that." Zed offered his hand.

Lincoln stared at it for a brief moment before giving a smile from behind his helmet and shook his teacher's hand.

A screech in the background gave signal that the battle has yet to conclude. Lincoln turned around and saw some of the downed creatures getting back up and were soon followed by a new group. Their numbers were then increased greatly with the newly arrived swarm.

Filled with terror at the sight of the sheer greatness in number from the creatures' team, Lincoln began breathing heavily. He nearly jumped when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned to see Zed standing next to him. Then, he turned to his other side to see the officers preparing themselves as well. One of them was talking to the radio, requesting for backup.

"You guys," Zed spoke to the medical team behind them, "Get those people to safety."

"Wait, sir, I need you to stand back." An officer requested.

"Give me a baton and I'll make sure this is taken care of."

"But-"

"Actually, I think we can trust him." Lincoln interrupted.

With a sigh, the officer complied and handed out a nightstick to Zed.

"Are you sure though?" Lincoln asked Zed, keeping his eyes locked on the opposing force.

"Think I've recovered enough, Lincoln." He whispered the last part after a brief pause, shocking the kid.

"How did yo-"

"Alright! They're charging!" One officer announced.

"You better hope backup arrives soon. It's best if we use the big guns against these things." Zed advised.

The remaining line of defense then prepared themselves for yet another battle. Funny how it's now up to a teacher, his student and a group of at least 6 officers, to defend the civilians from these strange monsters. Lincoln assumed the stance he had before, the officers raised their weapons, and Zed twirled his baton a bit as means of warming up his hand.

Zed eyed at the only officer who had a shotgun and spoke up, "Maybe we need to protect the guy with the boom stick."

"What?" All of them said before the creatures launched their attack.

Lincoln was the first to speed off to engage the enemies. The officers were amazed at his speed and were glancing at each other, they were then took by surprise once more when they saw that Zed too had ran off with the armored savior at nearly comparable speed.

Deciding that questioning everything they saw during the heat of battle wouldn't do anything, the officers opened fire on everyone that does not look remotely human, save for the one in the orange suit.

Zed dodged a few swipes and strikes thrown at him before sideswiping at them using the baton while holding it with the secondary handle. He managed to get through at a few before his weapon was grabbed. He quickly ducked under a punch which happened to hit the one behind him, sending it tumbling backwards and impeding a few more that were caught in its' way. He pushed hard on the end of the baton and struck the creature holding it, stunning it enough for him to deliver a dropkick, knocking the creature over and have it drop the baton. He leaped forward to dodge an attack and grab the nightstick and jabbed at the stomach of one of the creatures. He knew that applying great amounts of pressure over a small area on their bodies would be enough to at least get through their armor-like skin.

The officers however, were having a much harder time in dealing with the creatures. Despite having to fight against only one that strayed too far, the lack of weapons in its' possession made it hard for them to tag it with their bullets. It ran circles around them like it was a normal day for it to be doing so.

"Come on, now. I've practiced martial arts with the best of the best before, but this is just ridiculous." One of them quipped, despite the situation they were in.

"Yeah, this sure beats having to catch an arrow while having your back turned on the archer." Another one joined in, chuckling as he said so, the others too couldn't help but laugh as well. Might as well make the best of their lives right now.

"Hold up, you did what now?" The first one asked, genuinely curious.

The situation got even worse when one of them was tackled by the creature. Although this was bad for the victim, it was enough of an opportunity for them since the beast's focus was now completely on him. Before the creature could start tearing away at the terrified man, the one with the shotgun quickly ran over and managed to get close enough to aim at its' head. With the pull of a trigger, bullets sprayed all over its' head. It wasn't enough to kill it but hurt it enough for them to point their weapons at it and just fire away until the creature's gone limp.

The officers simply looked at each other, exhausted just from having to keep up with the creature. What help would they be if they could barely deal with one?

Meanwhile, Lincoln had taken out several of those creature rather easily, having adjusted to his increased strength and speed. In fact, he is currently doing better than Zed did, taking down several of those fiendish humanoids with a single strike and dodge their continuous strikes in rapid succession despite their movements exceeding that of a normal human's optical perception level.

The boy then heard another voice in his head telling him to put his hand in front of the belt, he does so without hesitation since he had no time to be questioning its' intention now. In a short moment, his hand began glowing in a bright, orange-colored light.

"What's this?"

"It would be best if you find out yourself."

Having no other choice, Lincoln sighed and dodged a surprise attack from one creature that had tried sneaking on him and answered with a punch to its' face using his glowing fist and released a powerful shockwave that sent it flying to the nearest group as well as knocking away the ones from all around him.

"Wow." Was all he could say.

The tides of the battle seemed to be in their favors now as more and more of those creatures were taken down, crippling the opponents' team severely. However, things just weren't meant to be when the ground shook.

"Whoa!" Lincoln said, almost falling down after having lost his balance. He looked at the ground before it shook again several times between pauses. Almost as if something of great mass was heading towards them.

That was not the case as Lincoln was blitzed by something that surpassed even his reaction speed.

"What the!?"

"Oh no." Zed whispered to himself before he too was struck hard on his shoulders, giving him quite a nasty injury.

Once again, Lincoln became the primary target of the newcomer. The strength of this new creature knocking him around as easily as one would with a ragdoll.

By the time it stopped, Lincoln had already suffered major damage to his suit. He turned to see this speed demon and saw a figure clad in deep red armor. Overall, it looked similar to the goons except for that one feature. The armor itself only covered its' torso, the chest piece was jutted out a bit. It had shoulder pads too, it looked blocky and were curved upwards near the end. Its' helmet looked similar to his, save for the color difference and having a longer backwards pointing crest than the others. Instead of gloves, it had a pair of gauntlets and a more metallic-looking pair of boots.

The rookie backed away in fear, not knowing how he was to face off against this thing. Hearing nothing from his belt was enough to tell him that he would have no chance against it.

Smoke began spewing out from underneath its' boots and it disappeared from Lincoln's view, only reappearing again right in front of him the next moment. This one brief moment that he had before the first attack was going to be launched nearly stopped his heart. It seemed hopeless for him to fight against something that he couldn't even see.

Just then too, yet another person arrived on the scene. The new challenger was tackled away by the second newcomer, whose appearance was hidden by its' own smokes. From within the smokescreen, a bright red light radiated from the person's waist.

Once the smoke cleared, it revealed the person who had just saved Lincoln. The source of the light gave itself away as a bright circular crystal outlined with a black circle located in the middle of a buckle, the buckle itself was simple in design, the general shape was oval where the middle slants outwards which ended with a flat top where said crystal was situated at the middle of.

Covering the person's body was nothing more than what seemed to be a black jumpsuit with white lines running down the sides of the arms and legs. It, or he, had green chestplate with abdominal armor. Like Lincoln, he had a simple pair of gloves and boots, both white in color. Another detail on him was a dark green scarf that flowed with the breeze.

Overall, the armor had a grasshopper feel to its' design. Large, circular red eyes. Two long antennae in the place of the eyebrows.

There he stood, valiantly against another soldier sent by the opposing force. His right fist clenched tightly and placed close to his hips. The left hand had the palm pointed towards the enemy in front.

"Finally." Zed quietly said with a smile.

Now, another battle begins.

Chapter End.

Ho-Lee Crapp! Sorry if that was a bit unsatisfying for you guys but I was sort of in a rush at the moment, but here it is! Chapter 7.

Sorry too for the unnecessarily detailed description of our new ally.


	8. Chapter 8 The next round

Chapter 8.

Shockwaves boomed and shook the ground and skies as the two battlers raged on. One was trying to ensure that no more survivors were to remain, while the other has an intention that is yet to be known.

Lincoln's eyes scanned back and forth throughout the battlefield. He had been having trouble with keeping up with those two since he had yet to master his senses. Which is something he doesn't know as of the moment.

"Oh man, what are we going to do now?" He asked, hand placed on his head.

"Is there even anything that we can do now?" One of the officers dropped on the ground, while bearing witness to a multitude of destruction in the trail of the two warriors.

"Maybe nothing, but we should stand guard here." Another advised.

"Sounds good," Zed agreed and held his weapon over his shoulder, "Lest that thing try something out."

For Zed, it was really hard not being on the frontline like he usually does. But with all these damages done on him, he thought he might stay away from engaging the leaders for a while before he could make it easy for the guys on the battle.

Most of the officers are devising a plan or were going back to the camp to see to the injured ones and keep a look out if backup's ready yet. Some were, looking stressed out, in a short moment, it seemed that their service was rendered completely useless. Maybe for them that's true, but with what they've done today, the two tag-along were grateful they stood by them.

Lincoln only wondered to himself about what could be done to at least provide help to the newcomer. At least he thought he was one. He is however, worried that the battles from here on now are going to be worse. Just this one alone, was already taxing for him.

"Hey, don't worry about it, kid." Zed walked up beside Lincoln, trying to ease up his mind. He too, had his own worries but for him, he prefers not to show it.

"Yeah. Let's just stand by." Lincoln sighed.

Their attention was then caught again when the fighting stopped, they all turned to see the two fighters staring down at each other.

Standing motionless, the warriors, red and green, stared down. It was only one move that sent them into this position. They had been broken off from the momentum that kept them going in battle.

The spectators watched on as silent befell the area. No one was making any movements, they all wanted to see how this would all play out from this moment onward.

This remained for a bit longer than any normal person could withstand, and it was taking a toll on the officers' mind. Yet no matter how badly they wanted to, they just couldn't bring themselves to move.

Lincoln's curiosity was slowly turning into a sense of dread, as if something bad was going to turn out from all of this.

Zed kept eyeing the two, hoping greatly for one of them to make a move. He knew it was risky, but he thought at least the green warrior should go for it first.

Breaking the silence was the red fiend, it raised a hand and from it, a dark cloud of energy began emanating from it. It covered a large area around it and the fighter before it. The mist-like energy began forming a humanoid shape, which then fully materializes as the creatures that gave them some trouble some time ago. They had been created in large amounts, slightly higher than the number they first appeared in.

"What?" Lincoln said, backing off slightly, shocked at this turn of events.

" _Alright,_ _ **that's**_ _the thing that's leading this attack._ " Zed thought to himself, slightly relieved having known the bastard that led the first attack.

"No, no… This can't be…" One of the officers was terrified.

"There's still more?"

The green warrior went to intercept before they could be given an order to attack, but that proved to be a challenge when he was facing obstruction in the form of the red-armored creature.

He had been prevented from disposing the footmen and that resulted in him getting several free strikes on his body. He tried to fight back, but having been dazed by the surprise attack, he was held in a headlock that he was struggling to break free from.

Pointing its' hand towards the small group in the distance, the creatures obeyed their creators and ran off with a cacophony of screeches.

"Oh shoot, here we go!" Zed shouted, holding his baton using the secondary handle while he rested his forearm on the long end.

"Alright now! Get ready to open fire!" An officer commanded.

"Just do it like before, and you'll be alright." Lincoln said to himself, hopping up and down to warm himself up for the next battle.

The officers fired when a few of their opponents leaped towards them. The bullets managed to tag some, but it only left small marks on the creatures' body.

Lincoln rushed forward to help out with the fight, he ran through some of them and into the larger crowd and from there, he ducked under a punch which got to one of their allies and pushed it away from him. He held up his hand to block an incoming swing from the side. Another one came and this time, he jumped away from it, leaving several of those creatures exposed to the strike. He was grabbed by the arm and tried to break free from it by attempting to throw a punch but his fist was grabbed and so too were his legs. He was in quite a pinch now, and one of them jumped up and tried to land on the boy.

Luckily, he was saved just in time when a nightstick was thrown at the high flier. Zed had just joined in with the brawl and was taking on several of them at once. This turned out to be much harder than he intended it to be, he had to constantly keep tracks on the creatures to prevent them from taking him by surprise, which he had fallen victim to quite a few times by now.

Using the opportunity given, Lincoln forcefully smacked the face of one of them with a backhand to let go of his fist. With that free, he threw a punch to his side and landed a hit on the one holding his other arm. He grabbed the first one and threw it towards the crowd in front and did the same to the other by throwing it to his back, then it was clear enough for him to quickly push his legs together, smacking the heads of the last two. Jumping away from them, he placed a fist in front of the belt and charged it up again. The moment the duo got back up, he jumped forward and got in front of them and swiped his hand to the side, launching the two with explosive force towards the group swarming Zed, giving him room to breathe.

The two were now gaining the upper hand in the battle, and not one of them managed to get past even the officers. They were wrong.

A scream from back at the camp had everyone shift their focus there. However, this was much more worrying for the young fighter.

"Wait, those voice!" He was beginning to sweat, he quickly pushed away the crowd in front of him and tried to get to the other side as quickly as possible. The nerves those creatures had to take his sisters hostage.

From the now tattered camp, came two of those vile beasts. Lincoln had gotten close enough to see, and what he saw in their hands, were 4 of his sisters. The twins, Luna, and Leni.

"Let us go!" Luna growled, trying to break free of the creature's hold, with disappointing results. Their hits weren't even enough to cause an itch, if they could feel that.

They were then set on the ground, kneeling. The two creatures that were sent for this joined their pointer and middle fingers together and extended them into one long talon on both hands. Using their new weapons, the held it by the back of the sisters' neck.

Luna kept her eyes shut, fearful of what the outcome might be for them all, and the other 3 were on the verge of crying. This sight made Lincoln's blood boil, he screamed and shouted, trying to get past the wall of strange creatures so he could get to his sisters.

Before even a small part of their skin was to be scratched, the creatures went limp. They looked behind them was a tall figure, fist extended past where the creatures' heads were once situated at. Rushing to their aid was the green warrior, who had taken quite the risk in coming to save them. Far too great of a risk.

From behind, an elbow struck Lincoln at the back of his head. It wasn't enough to make his head explode like what happened to the goons but his vision was blurring. His mind hazy, limbs going weak. He collapsed onto the ground with muffled shouting from his allies.

Then, everything turned black.

Screams, shouts, and the booms of shockwaves. All these sounds that happens in the battlefield flooded Lincoln's ears. But his body was far too numb to feel anything at the moment. Though, this stinging sensation is really starting to feel annoying. Strange, it does feel familiar to him however. Probably because it's more like receiving light electrocution all around his body. Looks like the belt isn't done yet.

He forcefully pried open his eyes and tried to adjust his eyes to the blurry image before him. He let out a small groan as he attempted to move his limbs. His eyes slowly moved to another location. Fortunately, it finally began adjusting itself to give him a better focus on things.

Right in front of him by several feet, laid his teacher, Zed Abraham. He wasn't unconscious, but his injuries were far too serious to ignore. Right beside him, were the 6 officers, they weren't hurt as bad as Zed. However, they're not like that man, they are but humans. The staff-like weapon too was used to hold them in place, apparently the apparatus was actually far too heavy to lift even with the strength of several men.

Beside him were his 4 sisters, who as of yet, are oblivious to the fact that their only brother has been on the frontlines ever since chaos came to the shelter. They were huddled up together. That's all that went through Lincoln's mind. They were afraid, and he knew that. He never should have allowed this to happen.

Right after he thought of that, he felt a painful jolt of electricity coursing through his body. He wanted to scream in response, but didn't. Or rather, couldn't.

In his mind were thoughts very similar to the one from before he donned the belt. He was getting scolded at again.

" _But I can't._ " He thought to himself when the belt demanded that he get up again.

Another round of electric shock managed to give him a bit more of a push from death, but still not enough to get him back on his feet.

" _What exactly do you want from me? I tried all I could, but I can't win this._ "

The belt was not having any of this. He knew exactly what it needed from him, exactly what to do, and exactly what he should be fighting for.

" _You're basically torturing me._ " Lincoln quietly said to himself, which seemed to get the belt to stop electrocuting him.

Instead of replying with another shock, it gave him its' answer, a series of harmonic tunes that played in his mind. That was its' way of calming down, and a way for it to get Lincoln back on his feet.

" _I appreciate your efforts but…_ " His thoughts trailed off from there, he had just remembered something.

He averted his gaze again towards his sisters, they're not just afraid, they're terrified. Not only were they stuck in this, they also didn't know where their brother was. This led them to assume the worst.

Mustering every ounce of strength he had left, he weakly pushed himself off the ground. His action was responded to with loud screeching from the creatures that were surrounding them.

Those screeching, got the red-armored fiend's attention, it had been superior throughout its' fight against the only opponent it was facing against. This undoubtedly gave it an advantage over its' opponent and left its' current fight and walk towards the boy.

Leni and Luna gasped when they saw the one thing that's caused much suffering in the span of several hours heading towards them. Or, more specifically, their brother.

A backhand pushed Lincoln off his hands and got him back to his feet, he was now the main target of the monster.

Blows after blows, the red-armored creature continued to strike at the young warrior. Lincoln was lucky to even stay conscious after all that. He had received countless and relentless punishments from the demon that threatens the lives of everyone in the town.

As much as he wished for it, the green warrior could not be of any help right now. He could barely get himself to stand up, let alone fight back the groups of henchmen that came to stall him. Quite possibly too, kill him.

Before another punch could land on Lincoln's face, he surprised the dastardly creature by catching its' fist just before it hit him. That alone required a lot of focus for him to do.

"No…" He weakly said, tightly holding on to the fist.

The armored creature struck Lincoln repeatedly on the side of his head, in an effort to make him let go if its' hand. But the boy stood his ground. "This ends now…" He attempted to push back the leader of these strange creatures, "I'm not gonna let you do as you please anymore…"

Due to shock, the vile beast was pushed back. It quickly planted its' firmly feet onto the ground and the boy's strength no longer meant anything.

"I have a family to come back to…. And they'll be waiting for me!" He gathered enough of his voice to shout.

From afar, the green warrior heard that, being what he is allowed him to listen to voices even from a good amount of distance. He understood that, the boy's desires, he had it too. It helped him just enough to gather what's left of his energy and boost them to a level high enough for him to overcome the weakened creature's power. Using his speed, he quickly dispatched many of the creatures that were holding him down. He wanted to help more than ever now, he didn't want any terrible fate to befall the young warrior.

No longer tolerating the boy's persistence, the beast raised another fist, ready to put an end to this. Its' wish to do so never realized itself, from behind it, the green warrior had grabbed its' fist.

Lincoln was surprised at this, he looked at the man once more and saw a nod coming from him.

"Go ahead," He spoke up after being silent since his first appearance, it was rather raspy, presumably from all the damage he received. "Like you said, you have a family to go back to."

And the boy understood, he let go of the creature's arm and the green warrior turned it around so he could deliver a punch to its' guts. It backed away in pain and was given a kick to the head.

The green warrior wanted to make quick work of it. So he tackled the creature and brought them both back into the town, not before making a quick detour to pick up the staff that was holding down the officers. He pushed away the beast to give himself a breathing space, then, he slid his hands outwards to both ends of the staff. The weapon then was covered in a blue light, and when it disappeared, it took on a more refined look. It looked like a normal golden rod but with blue linings along the body. It did look shorter than before, fixed when it extended from both ends.

Delivering multiple deadly blows onto the creature, the green warrior now prepares himself for the finishing move. He set his legs apart and held the staff parallel to his shoulders. The moment it regained its' composure, he sped off towards it.

With one powerful swing, he lodged the staff on the monster's chestplate. Energy began building up violently inside its' body, green lights were being projected from its' limbs. This resulted in a large explosion that engulfed not only the two of them, but also several buildings in their proximity.

The spectators all gasped at the sight, except for Zed, who had just gotten back up and was just in time to witness the end of the battle.

" !" Lincoln happily exclaimed when he finally noticed his teacher standing beside him.

"Mr. Zed!" The girls too were quite happy about this. Not even wondering how the orange-suited fighter knew of the man's name.

"Wait, is he going to be alright?" Asked the boy, the teacher replied by pointing back at the epicenter.

In the middle of the explosion, a lone figure proudly stood. His suit and armor were damaged, yet his scarf miraculously survived the onslaught and the explosion.

Covering himself in a green light, the man reappeared in his true form. He was at least as tall as Zed, his hair too was just as messy, being only auburn in color and not a darker shade. He lifted his head to see the people staring at him. The officers too had joined up with them after recovering from their injuries. Thinking of greeting them, he did so, and walked forward.

"Who are you?" Luna asked first.

"The name's Oswald," The man answered, "Oswald Kresten."

"Nice to see you again." Zed smiled, surprising everyone present.

Chapter End.

Right, that was it, this is so far, the only chapter that I had to fully rewrite due to how disappointing the first version was. Sorry that it was unnecessarily long. And perhaps, a bit repetitive around the middle and the end.

Also update, I will be stopping after chapter 9. Putting it on hiatus right now would feel far too weird since there is no proper closure.

Again, sorry for changing the placements of paragraphs. I just thought it looked strange and it felt off-putting so I made a little bit of adjustment. The chapters following this one will continue doing it like this. Should I happen to forget doing so, I'd like to apologize in advance.


	9. Chapter 9 Aftermath

Chapter 9.

"Wait, you know him!?" Everyone shouted out, shocked at this fact.

"Yeah, for quite a while now." The young teacher answered simply and nonchalantly, the others not knowing how much farther he meant by that.

"But then, why didn't you tell us?" Lincoln asked.

"Listen, I'd love to tell you guys stories but I really have to leave now." Oswald said, wanting to make his leave as he had other important matters in mind.

"Wait, don't go yet!" Luna held out her hand, "I mean, who **exactly** are you?"

"A traveler."

With that, Oswald casually walked away from the group. Lincoln wanted to stop him but Zed interfered, telling him that it's best that he's not bothered anymore.

"Oh!" Lincoln remembered something, he grabbed Zed by the arm and carefully walked away from the officers and his sisters.

"What is it?" The teacher asked.

"We need to get me out of this suit." Whispered the Loud boy.

"Oh right, right," Zed looked for a place where he could hide him, "How 'bout there?" He pointed at a police car that had been lifted to its' side.

The two quickly made their way without the others noticing. Zed nodded at his student and the boy asked the belt to do what they were here for and his wish, was its' command. He was now surrounded by a ball of light instead of a pillar, and once it disappeared, Lincoln was back to how he was.

"Oh dang," Zed chuckled, "I forgot that you were almost half that height." He laughed lightly.

"Yyyeah. Let's go." Lincoln said in a blank tone. Shooting a glare in response to his teacher's comment.

"Hold up, I've got a plan. Instead of you just appearing out of nowhere, let's do something a bit more believable."

The others were just about to make their way back to the medical camp. They wouldn't really want to keep the others waiting, and maybe break the news about how Lincoln was nowhere to be seen and confirm their fears.

"Hey guys! I found Lincoln!" Zed informed the others, he was poking out from the back of the car they were hiding behind.

"Lincy?" Leni said.

"Alright!" The twins said, happily running to where Zed was to meet up with their brother again, the other two followed suit.

From behind the vehicle, the white-haired boy faked having just gotten up from being knocked out. At least it was easy to do, given how many times he's been hit in the head.

"Wh-what happened?" He asked, rubbing his head.

"Man, do we have a lot to tell you, bro." Luna happily said to him.

* * *

"So that's what happened huh?" Lisa said as Lincoln finished telling her about what happened out there to the young genius, who chose to remain at her bed when the others had moved to the camp where their parents and Lori were at.

Speaking of which, Lori had woken up from being unconscious. Night has come, and no sign of any incoming threat. Though, that doesn't mean they can go back to living normal lives. At least not yet.

The backup officers too had arrived on the scene not too long ago, fortunately they had brought what Zed had advised the others to request them for. Aside from weapons, they had also brought extra medical equipment.

"And that's what happened." Zed too had finished telling the other Loud sisters, his side of the story, while throwing in some of everything that's happened in between.

"That's so cool!" Lynn was jumping up in excitement after hearing their former teacher's story.

"I still can't believe you actually went to join the battle with the police, dude." Luna said, still in shock over that, they wouldn't believe it had it not been for the scars and the officers' confirmation. Lori nodded in agreement.

"Well, guess you 'taught' those guys a lesson!" Luan joked and laughed at it while others rolled their eyes in annoyance, "Get it?"

Zed simply placed his hand on the joker's hair and ruffled it while smiling.

"But there's still one thing I don't really get." Leni raised a brow.

"What is it?"

"How come the guy in orange wasn't here by the time we found Lincoln?" She asked while shrugging.

"Ah well, that dude, man, bro is probably just a very busy man." Zed lied.

"So anyway," Lori spoke up, "How are things gonna go then? After this whole thing is over I mean."

"I don't know 'bout you guys, but I think school's closing down for a several weeks after this entire ordeal." Said their teacher. "So, I advise that you guys have a family outing or the likes. I'd like to take a break too."

"Aw, we'd love to but…" Sighed the eldest. She was looking at their parents, they don't look like they'd be waking up anytime soon.

"Oh, I'm sorry then."

"No, it's okay." The others tried to reassure him that there was no need for him to apologize.

"Yeah, I guess. I did talk to the doctors however, they said they're recovering nicely. They're just not quite sure when they'd be up again."

He then noticed that now the girls were the ones looking down from all this talk about their parents.

"But hey, we're all okay. I think we should at least be grateful for that," He beamed a smile at them all, "If you think about it, you guys are pretty lucky."

The Loud sisters looked at each other with smiles firmly plastered on their face, nodding in agreement at what Zed said to them. Lincoln heard it too, just as he came into the camp with Lisa following behind.

Chapter End.

Yeah, that was it, just a little breather chapter. A bit short, but it's better that way, I guess.

There's going to be at least 2 more chapters like this so, bear with me.

Anyway, hiatus now or wait until the 2 following chapters to come first?


	10. Chapter 10 Cleaning up

Chapter 10.

It has been a week since the attack started, and ended.

For now, peace had returned to the town of Royal Woods. Many of the townspeople were allowed to return should they choose to. Reconstruction of the town had begun too since then.

Of course, the Loud family decided to head home. Though, it was without their parents. There was nothing they could do for now, the doctors said that the two would be needing some serious rehabilitation once they finally got up, and that seemed like an unlikely case at the moment.

Clyde however, decided to stay back at the shelter with his parents since they too were injured from the same source. Lincoln did tell him everything he needed to know before departing.

Looks like those grenades did more damage than expected from what appears to be a standard-issue hand held explosive.

With the twist of a knob, Lori pushed open the door to their house, still intact even after the barrier was gone. In her arm was Lily, who looked around the living room, "blanky" in her hand.

The room however, wasn't really clean, most of their stuff had been destroyed. Some of the furniture had been flown from one side of the room to the other. A good number of their items too ended up in places they didn't know was possible.

The newly appointed "man" of the house let herself in, followed by the rest of her younger siblings. Accompanying them in their trip was Zed Abraham, the man who had been with them all this time.

"Oh man." Lincoln sighed.

"Well, looks like we're gonna have to clean up this place." Lori said.

"You guys need an extra pair of hands?" Zed offered.

"I think we could use some help, yeah!" Lincoln happily accepted, his sisters nodding in agreement.

Without wasting anymore time, most of the family, including their guest began cleaning up the house. Lola and Lana were simply tasked to take care of Lily, they were allowed to help out but usually it would end up with either sides fighting on who gets to clean what, and it got on everyone's nerves. As well as getting more things broken.

The same can be said with the other sisters, but they needed all the help they could get and that they don't fight over every little things.

The rest, from then on, went pretty well. Many of the wreckage that were once their own furniture had been cleared out, some that were still intact had been restored to their original position, and just overall cleaned up the house. Although, the wiring and piping may need to be fixed.

"Great!" Lincoln said happily, "Now all we need is to get with the wires! And the pipes. And all those cracks, and maybe a whole lotta stuff."

"Don't worry, I think I'll cover you guys with that," Zed gave his proposal, "And for many other stuff. Maybe the town needs help too." He said quietly as he placed his hand on his chin.

"Alright then! It's settled. We will all do our parts in restoring the house as best as we can." Lori concluded.

The others all cheered as their work comes to an end. For now. Surely, they would need to work harder once they have the materials needed to fix the house.

Though Lincoln suddenly felt down. He just happened to recall the events from last week during this happy moment. For him, there's definitely going to be more work from now on. During the past few days, Zed told him the short story regarding the forces they are fighting against.

There were definitely more of them. The one that appeared last week was simply the beginning, that's usually how it works. First, a series of small attacks. If, you could call a city-wide emergency a small crisis. Then, they'd sent scouts or ones of similar tasks. Those are usually weak. Then, fighters are sent in groups of more than one. He didn't finish though, Zed stopped before he could go any further.

"Something wrong, Lincoln?" Leni, who stood next to him, asked.

"Huh? Oh, it's nothing really," The boy lied, "Just, feeling a bit tired."

"Yeah, me too!" Luan said, "I bet I could just 'crumble' at any moment!" Pointed Luan as she looks expectantly at her siblings and their guest before laughing heartily, "Get it?"

Her joke gained a round of annoyed groans with the exception of Lincoln and Zed, the former ignoring it while the latter simply kept quiet, smiling as he watched most of the family leave and go about in their daily activities.

"Luan, I swear I'm going to break you." Lola said, waving her fist at the comedian.

"Don't worry Lola, I'm already 'splintered'!" Joked Luan again, showing to the others her finger, where a splinter was stuck.

"Oh," Zed said as he inspected the injury closer, "Oh my. Has anyone got a tweezer?"

"There we go." Zed finished up and threw away the splinter. He had to make do with using a small adjustable wrench due to the absence of a tweezer.

"I'm going to take a walk outside." Lincoln said, pointing to the door.

Lincoln went back outside with Zed following closely behind. He was worried, and his teacher knew about it.

"Are you sure you're going to be okay?" Asked the young man.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. All I need is some clean air and, some time alone." Lincoln reassured him.

From there on, the two parted ways as Lincoln went into the city and Zed, he told the kid that he was going to the school to look for what's left of the students' belongings and hopefully return them.

In the town, Lincoln slowly shuffled his way along the sidewalks, head hung low. He was still trying to absorb the information given to him. If all of this was going to become progressively worse, why tell him all that?

He looked around, and saw that though the town has yet to be fully restored, and that things were far from returning to normal, everyone was already back in their daily lives. It warms his heart at least, to know that people were capable of moving past such bitter experiences.

The white-haired boy let out a loud sigh and set his eyes forward. Something caught his attention when he saw movement in the corner of his eyes. He looked at what it was and saw the man who helped in ending the first fight, Oswald Kresten.

He watched as the man walked into what seemed to be a still ruined parking garage. When he looked closely though, he was wearing gloves and carried what seemed to be body bags on his shoulder. Strange.

Lincoln decided to follow, maybe he would get some answers on questions that Zed had so far refused to tell him.

His actions may prove to be a bit more than he bargained for.

Chapter End.

Well, that's it for 2nd breather chapter. Though, I wouldn't really call it that.

Anyways, Chapter 11 is coming soon.

Also, I'm back. So don't let your guard down just yet. I'm about to try and make up for things.


	11. Chapter 11 Meeting the Man

Chapter 11.

Following closely behind, Lincoln kept his eye on the suspicious man. He hid behind a pillar and peeked out from it, from there, he saw Oswald looking around as if he was searching for something.

 _What are you planning now, Oswald?_ He thought, growing ever more curious to find out what the man's current motive is.

"I know you're here." He nonchalantly spoke up, surprising the boy.

Worried that he might be in trouble, Lincoln kept quiet. He tried to compose himself from the shock of having his presence known by keeping a steady breathing pattern.

"You can come out now, I'm not going to hurt you," Said the man, "I mean, why would I?"

"Oh yeah?" Lincoln gathered his courage to answer, he was definitely scared. He didn't know what Oswald is truly capable of, "Prove it!"

"I guess all those knocks you got on your head is starting to take its' effect," Oswald groaned. He dropped the empty body bags and crossed his arms, "What else should I do to prove that I'm no threat?"

"Alright, I'll come out. Only if you promise not to do anything."

"I promise."

Lincoln slowly walked away from the pillar and slowly towards the disgruntled man. He stopped just a few meters away from Oswald and maintained eye contact. Lest the man tries anything.

Instead, Oswald simply motioned the boy to follow him as he picked up the body bags and began walking around the first floor of the parking space. He continued to look around like he's looking for something.

After finding nothing for the past several minutes. Oswald stood up straight and scratched his head as he groaned in annoyance. What exactly was he looking? Lincoln wondered that too. Then, Oswald closed his eyes and began humming quietly, cutting off his mind from unwanted interference and sending himself into a deep mental focus.

He opened his eyes shortly after and looked at a nearby dumpster, and for whatever reason, walked up to it.

"Seriously, what are you doing?" Lincoln finally spoke up, no longer tolerating the silence.

"This."

With that, Oswald moved the dumpster with ease and behind it, was a dead man. All bloodied and battered.

Lincoln reacted with great disgust at the sight. He looked away and gagged, trying not to puke.

"As you can see here," Oswald put down the body bags and began unzipping one, "There are hidden bodies all over the town."

"Wh-what?" Lincoln asked, still keeping his eyes away from the corpse.

"This is the result of the attacks. The worst one. People are afraid to die," He answered monotonously, "And some, well, they die alone, and terrified. Nobody has any idea about it too."

"What are you getting at?"

"I'm sure you've all seen Zed's overly optimistic demeanor right?" Oswald turned to look at Lincoln with a questioning expression, "He's actually doing that because he didn't want to expose to you guys the full horror of our battles."

" _If you think about it, you guys are pretty lucky._ " Those words repeated itself over and over in Lincoln's head.

"How are you so calm about this?" Lincoln stopped covering his eyes to look back at Oswald, who had just finished zipping up the body.

The man sighed and kept quiet for a while before answering, "I'm just, used to it I guess."

Before Lincoln could even ask anymore, Oswald got up. He began walking around with the boy following closely behind him.

As the time went on, Oswald filled up all of his available body bags and finished zipping up the last one. He lined up them in a single row.

Lincoln could only look at the bodies in terror with a slight hint of disgust.

"Now all we need to do is wait for-"

As if on cue, the person he was just about to mention made his presence known.

"Hello there, Oswald." Greeted the police officer.

"Speak of the devil. Lawrence."

"How's your work over here?" The officer asked

"I was just finishing up." Oswald replied.

"Hold it, what's going on here?" Lincoln confusedly asked the two.

"Ah, Lincoln. Nothing, just checkin' up on him." Lawrence calmly replied.

"I told him about this and he agreed to help." Oswald explained.

"Yep, ever since the attack last week. Knowing that you were the one who helped us, I had no other choice but to give a hand. Besides, he's right. Least we could do about these bodies are to find them and well, you know the rest."

"I see." Lincoln said simply.

After that, the two men went on to load the truck Lawrence had brought with him to send away the bodies. Once they were done, Lawrence got inside the vehicle and bid his farewell.

"Right, I'll see you two later then." Lawrence said as he began driving off with the bodies.

Once the truck was out of sight, Lincoln sighed heavily and walked away from Oswald. He sat down on the sidewalk, face buried in his hands.

Oswald couldn't do anything about this. He wished he could say at least something, but he wasn't Zed. As far as he knows, only that guy could help ease people up, even during the worst times. He tried to speak up anyway.

"Look, Lincoln, was it?"

"Yeah?" The boy looked up at Oswald.

"I know th-"

The sound of an explosion and the shaking of the ground caught them both by surprise. Oswald and Lincoln ran back into the building and went up the higher floors to get a better view on where the attack might have occurred. It didn't take long for them to find their first visual cue. A rising smoke not far from the building they were on.

Oswald wasted no time and jumped off. Lincoln was alarmed by his sudden action and looked down to see him there, having landed safely. He groaned and held his chest. These people are going to be the death of him.

Back on the road where Oswald landed on, he looked on as two figures walked out of the smoke. One was another one of those creatures in armor and beside it was a monstrous beast that looks like a giant toad.

The white-armored creature set its' focus on Oswald, who glared down at the two of them. Raising its' hand into the air, it began creating at least a dozen of minions. The mindless creatures then screeched as it took form.

"Hexons!" Lincoln shouted.

"What?" Oswald looked at the boy, confused at the name.

"Yeah, that's what the police named them. You know? Because of their body markings?"

"Sounds a bit too generic, if you ask me."

Placing his hands around his hip, his belt materializes around his waist. Oswald clenches both his fist and moved the right one diagonally to his left side. He then moved that arm forward and opened it up in a claw. With the short series of poses done, he was covered in a green light and appeared again in his battle suit.

"Wait for me!"

Lincoln tried out the same stunt that Oswald pulled in an attempt to look cool but ended landing on his face. Good thing no one was there to see that. He was pulled from the asphalt and set back on his feet by Oswald.

He shook his head and thanked him before taking up the same fighting stance from before. His belt then changed from its' disguised form to its' actual one. The small screen then glowed, covering Lincoln in an orange light.

Once the light disappears, Lincoln was now back in his own fighting suit.

"Alright, here we go!" He announced.

Chapter End.

Alright then, that's all for the breather chapters. Sorry if all three of them has a weirder pacing than usual.

Chapter 12 will be out next week, as usual.

Also, double upload. Like last time, don't let your guard down just yet.


	12. Chapter 12 Back in action

Chapter 12.

Lincoln and Oswald rushed forward towards the charging swarm of Hexons, as the police had begun calling them.

"I'll take care of those two." Oswald pointed at the two figures behind the horde.

"Alright! Good luck!" Lincoln wished to his current partner.

Using his speed, Oswald went through the group of 12 and threw a punch right at the toad-like monster that accompanied the armored Hexon. The attack sent the beast stumbling backwards, giving Oswald the chance to deliver a kick to its' guts. An attack that stunned it.

The ferocious fighter then looked at the nearby commanding Hexon, who held its' hand out.

"You expect mercy?" Oswald assumed.

"No, I just thought I'd introduce myself. Have a little honorable battle between two fighters?" It spoke up.

"Honorable? Don't expect me to believe you when you claim this fight to be fair." Oswald retorted, pointing at the still recovering toad monster.

"Alright. I'd expected as much. But I'd still like to introduce myself."

"On with it." Anger was audible in Oswald's tone.

"My name, is Korax. Exactly what you think I am, one of the many commanders for one of the fleet that belongs to our leader, Fanascht." Explained the creature in a modest tone.

 _Wait, who's Fanascht?_ Oswald thought. He's never heard of that name in the entire time he and Zed fought against these creatures.

"But of course, His Greatness would not spend his time with us lower level creatures on mere territorial expansion missions. Usually we'd try to conquer the universe but, seeing as you are already here," Korax paused and glanced around before continuing, "We will just have to destroy it."

"Like hell you're gonna do that."

"Enough talk, I have introduced myself. And I have no need for yours, your name stains our historical records. We could have finished our mission in taking over the entire multiverse had it not been for your interference."

"Then let's find out who will win this day." Oswald taunted and gestured the commander in an insulting manner.

Korax nodded and rushed forward, ready to combat the green warrior.

Oswald needed only to step aside once his opponent foolishly charged forward, he got out of the way of both him and the mutant behind him, leading to Korax getting knocked over and trampled by the much larger beast.

Having injured its' own comrade, the mutant made itself the current target for Oswald. It was attacked by a flurry of punches from the ticking time-bomb of a man. It was only a matter of time before Oswald resorts to a more violent tactic. Clearly, his mood was not exactly good today.

Meanwhile, Lincoln had just went through half of the Hexon in the small group they were sent in. He had gotten used to fighting these smaller footmen since the first one ever since he found out that though they may prove deadly in numbers, they were pretty easy to put into disarray and take them down one by one.

Just as one of them tried to sneak up behind Lincoln, it was grabbed by a long sticky tongue belonging to that of the toad-like creature. It was pulled back into the mouth of said creature and was spat out towards Oswald as projectile. It was easily knocked out of his way and unleashed another round of attacks on the helpless creature.

Sensing that Korax was getting back on his feet, Oswald knocked away his current opponent and used his speed advantage to mercilessly blitz the commander. Sending him into a daze.

Once he had the creature stunned, he jumped high into the air and flipped himself to face downwards. He flipped again and extended a leg, preparing himself to deliver the finishing blow by charging up his foot with a green energy that streaked through the air as he made his descent.

Several meters from impact, Oswald was grabbed by the leg by the toad-like creature's tongue and was swung away from his target, crashing him onto a nearby building.

Oswald shook and rubbed his head as he recovered from the surprise attack. He was pulled again and slammed multiple times around the street. He managed to regain his composure just in time for him to rip off the tongue in mid-air.

His action flung him on the last remaining Hexon and killed it on the spot. He growled and grabbed the staff it had in hand and transformed it again to the rod he used on the previous battle. He was now furious after having found out that Korax has fled the scene. Indicated by the fact that he was nowhere to be seen.

He charged up his staff and ran off in blinding speed towards the creature that had just made itself the target of his wrath. He struck the rod hard on the creature's stomach, creating an explosion from the large burst of energy.

He found out however that the same move he used before was not enough to finish off the enemy this time. He may have wasted too much energy. At least it helped in ending the fight early.

"Lincoln!" Oswald called out.

"Yeah?"

"Come here."

Without questioning him, Lincoln quickly made his way towards the senior warrior. When he finally got there, Oswald handed him the rod.

"Wait, what am I supposed to do with this?" Lincoln asked.

"You know exactly what to do, kid."

"But I don't know how to-"

"If I'm not wrong, you can transfer your energy to an object. Just like I did."

A jolt from the belt told Lincoln to trust the man and finish the fight. He placed the weapon close to his belt and it began surging with energy.

"Now, take your position." Oswald commanded while positioning Lincoln in the same stance he took before, "And keep your eyes on the enemy."

"Alright!" Lincoln was feeling pumped, he didn't know why but he felt confident. As if Oswald's words were making him feel like that.

"And charge!" Shouted the man.

Lincoln took off and raised his weapon high. Closing in on his target, he swung his weapon with a loud battle cry and struck the monster on its' shoulder. A large explosion followed soon after, engulfing both Lincoln and the beast.

The young Loud opened his eyes to see that the weapon was gone, and so was the monster. But the next thing that was worth celebrating about was that he was standing, well and alive.

"I-I'm alive!" He happily exclaimed.

"You did good, kid. You did good." Oswald morphed out of his suit while walking up to Lincoln.

"I did?"

"You got potential. You and that belt," He complimented the boy and pointed at the belt, "You two make good partners."

"I can't wait to tell Mr. Abe about this!"

"Don't get carried away," Oswald warned, "Well, see you later. Let the town do their own work after this." He said as he began walking away.

"Oh man," Lincoln said with a smile as the suit disappeared from his body, and returning him to his original height. Then parts of the building that was attacked first collapsed, making a loud thud upon impact with the ground. He slowly turned to look at it, wide-eyed.

"Oh man…" He sighed.

Chapter End.

Well, that was it. Kinda unsatisfied with the exposition scene at the beginning though. Also, the enemy is weak because I have plans for his future appearances.

Anyway, Chapter 13 will be out at the stated time below.

There goes the final upload for the day. Following this, the next chapter will be uploaded in 2 weeks and that will be my new regular for now.


	13. Chapter 13 Settling down

Chapter 13.

Lincoln slowly let himself in and was immediately swarmed by his sisters.

"Oh my gosh Lincoln, are you okay!?" Lori asked.

"Are you hurt anywhere, Lincy?"

"Did those weird creatures get to you, bro?"

Apparently word spreads fast. News about the attack that had just occurred and the battle that followed shortly after was now the main story that the media was covering. It also happens that his sisters were just watching the news and are now worried that Lincoln may have been caught in the battle.

"Guys, guys, I'm fine!" Lincoln tried to reassure his sisters and held his arms out, "See?"

"Sorry dude, it's just that, the news came on and we were worried since you were out that time."

"Yeah, we thought you'd be a goner for sure!" Lynn said.

"It's going to take a lot more than that to take me down!" Lincoln confidently said to his sisters. It seemed to work at least, even if he wasn't sure about that himself. As long as he could see the smiles of his sisters, there isn't anything that can hold him down.

After finally getting his sisters to trust him, Lincoln ran up to his room, leaving his sisters free to do whatever they wanted to. Though it seems that they don't really have anything in mind right now.

Lincoln sighed and got onto his bed. He didn't know why, but he felt a bit more exhausted today. He looked to his side where his clock was and saw that the time shown, it was only minutes past one in the afternoon.

After knowing what time it was, Lincoln turned his head back and stared into the ceiling of his room. Staring into the blankness of the ceiling does make him think, how would things have played out if he never found the fragment or ultimately ignored it? If he hadn't got it home? If he didn't inform Lisa about the object? Maybe someone else would have found it but it could be worthless since they wouldn't have the larger fragment. Maybe the belt would have never formed.

Maybe, he wouldn't be able to save his family. But then again, he never asked for this.

Lincoln slowly drifted into a deep slumber as his mind was lost in his thoughts.

Back at the wreckage of Royal Woods' Elementary School, Zed walked around and climbed over some towering rubble. From the top of it, he looked around. Seems that the school had yet to be restored.

With a sigh, he jumped down from the large debris and continued his search for the students' lost belongings. Or at least, what's left of it all. He could have done more too.

He stopped moving when he realized something. He stood right beside where the door leading to Huggins' office used to be. Looking around, he thought about how it could have gone much better.

After wandering around for a bit longer, he finally got to one of the class. Convenient too since it just happened to be the one he had just recently started teaching in. Since he finally got there, might as well leave no stones unturned.

There, he spent his time searching, overturning and flipping over the remnants of the class.

He had searched long and hard, and at the end of it, he's managed to gather a surprisingly good amount of the students' belongings. Intact, too. If, a bit dirty.

The smile he had when he finished up his job faded away as he turned quickly and threw a rock behind him. The faint sound of a thud confirmed his suspicion that he was being followed. He can't let that happen, then again, he couldn't really leave all the students' bags.

Between catching a potentially dangerous spy, and returning the kids' stuffs, he chose the latter. Not because he is trying to foolishly ignore the worst possible scenario but it felt too cliche. He'd stop to think that's exactly what the hidden enemy wanted and try to lure whatever it is, out. Or, he could play it cool and see how things would go from there.

"Guess I'm done then!" He happily exclaimed while looking at the rows of bags, "Well, I'm off to a good start at least."

Within the shadows, an injured creature creeps silently. However, with great difficulty, even more now with that stone getting chucked to its side.

"Argh! Damn it, what was that?" Korax hissed in pain while he held his waist where the rock had hit him.

"Doesn't matter, I'll just head back and make my report. Surely, the others will know what to do."

With that, the creature scurried off, making his way back to his base of operations. Ready to plan the next moves with the rest of his kind. But for now, he needed to recuperate. His injuries having taken a toll on his body.

Having placed the bags he managed to collect into a wheelbarrow he had just gotten earlier, Zed pushed off and was prepared to leave. He's made sure that nothing inside was broken, took out anything that could potentially break while it's inside the wheelbarrow, he's now ready to make his way back to town. He stopped just as he saw yet another wreckage. It was the kindergarten.

Looking around him to make sure nobody is around to steal the students' items, and that nobody is around to make an ambush, he walked slowly towards a large rubble pile where the wreckage is. He dug around and found a toppled cabinet. He turned it over and saw a few handicrafts made by the students there.

"Huh, guess I'll take at least a few. Maybe this would cheer up one of the teachers," He said to himself and received and idea, "What if I collected just a few more things?"

Without even realizing it, Zed worked all throughout the afternoon and came out when the sun was just about to sink below the horizon. He managed to get out with quite a number of items. Many of which are things that could be an object held dear to the teachers or of the likes.

He smiled when he saw the sunset, he didn't get to see it from end to beginning, but at least he could see its' end. He then went off into the night, unknown as to where his current destination might be.

"Good night Royal Woods." Zed bid to the town as he walked happily in the dark of the night, his path illuminated only by the few remaining streetlights that were still working.

"Good night. Royal Woods." Another voice speaks silently to itself.

In the distant, atop a higher ground that leads away from the town, Barzal stood overlooking the city. His malicious gaze laying itself on the city. A malevolent grin plastered firmly on his face.

Chapter End.

Aaaaaaaaand that's it. Finally, this is the chapter that prompted me to put the story on this hiatus. Speaking of which, sorry for that.

Chapter 14 will be coming soon.


	14. Chapter 14 The Last Quarter

Chapter 14.

* * *

The arcade. The place where most kids go to when they have time on their hands, and right now, they have all the time in the world now that school's on a temporary hold. Sounds of buttons tapping, cheery laughs of the kids, and sound effects from the games that they are playing filled the place.

"So, you're actually feeling fine right now?"

"I told you Clyde, I'm in tip-top shape right now," Lincoln replied, "In fact, never better!" He exclaimed as he executed the finishing move on his friend's character in the game they were playing.

"Woohoo!" He jumped in celebration while Clyde hung his head in defeat with a sigh.

"Guess I'll just have to keep trying now if I want to beat you in this game."

"Yeah, I guess we could go try out the other games," Lincoln said as he dug his pocket and pulled out only a few quarters left, "Uh-oh, guess we're gonna have to make it count then.

"Yep. Say, have you told anyone else about the whole thing?"

"Other than you, Lisa and, no one else I guess," Answered the buck-toothed boy, "Actually, can you keep this a secret?"

"Sure, Lincoln."

"Remember that guy I told you about? The one that saved us?"

"Yeah?"

"He also knows about me."

"Cool! So, how was he like?"

"To be honest, he's a bit too grim. A bit of a short fuse too." Lincoln chuckled.

"Oh."

"Hey, what are you guys talking about?" Came Ronnie Anne's voice, shocking the two boys to jump in surprise.

"Aah!"

The young Santiago girl laughed lightly at the two and spoke up, "Calm down you Lame-O's, it's just me."

"Oh, hey Ronnie Anne! What are you doing here?"

"Duh, same reason you are."

"O-of course!"

"So you guys wanna hit the other machines? I'm already running low on quarters though."

"Sure, I guess. I mean, we're kinda low too."

"How about we get something to eat after this?" Clyde suggested.

"Sure!" Lincoln said.

"Yeah, that sounds good." Ronnie Anne agreed.

Then with those plans in mind, the kids head off and went on to put them in motion. Leaving their previous gaming spot empty for another person to come and use it.

This new user appearing in the form of a teen dressed in gray jacket and a black cap. He looked around to make sure the coast is clear and crouched down next to the game machine. He pulled a rolled up plastic casing and unrolled it. In it were several tools. Pulling out a screwdriver, he headed to the back of the machine and unplugged it, lest he get any unwanted shock.

Now that things are going just right for him, he began unscrewing the maintenance panel and safely placed it on the side. He was just about to take a look inside before interference came.

"Hey, what are you doing?" A voice called out, making him jump and bump his head on the machine.

So much for a clear coast.

"Ow, what?" Said the teen while he turned to look at the caller.

"Excuse me, what are you doing?" The worker repeated his question.

Setting himself in a proper sitting position, the teen answered, "Just a bit of a, maintenance check sir, nothing to worry about."

"But the game's not broken, isn't it? Besides, if it is, we might have to-"

The worker was interrupted with a laugh from the teen, who walked up to him and placed his hands on his shoulder.

"Hey listen, I assure you, no harm will come from all this. Why don't you get back to work. Those children over there might need supervising. Who knows when they'll get hurt."

As if on cue, a loud banging sound was heard not far from their location. Followed shortly by a series of screams from a group of children, it was not a sign of danger but rather, a sign of an imminent fight between the children.

"See?"

"Oh now, how is that even possible?" The worker ran off to try and defuse the situation as soon as he could.

"Right. An' I'll be back here." Said the teen once he was alone again.

He got back to looking at the inside of the machine and searched around to see if there's anything weird implanted in there. Every now and again he received electrocutions, though, he ignored it for the most part and ultimately found nothing in the machine.

"Nothing," He sighed as he got out, "You're clear, buddy."

The teen then turned his attention to where the sound came from.

Meanwhile, several minutes prior…

"Man, you guys are really killing it at this game!" Clyde exclaimed, watching as the two 'couple' give out all they got in a 2-player game that he and Lincoln used to play but never seemed to get very far into. That however, changes now when Ronnie Anne joined up with them and possibly being a factor in it, Lincoln's new powers which allows him to fare better in the game.

"Yeah, you're actually pretty good at this, Ronnie Anne! Never thought you'd be the kind who'd be playing these types of games." Lincoln complimented.

"What? Please, you don't even know, Lame-O. But then again, you're doing good as well."

The two laughed at each other's compliments and continued playing their game while Clyde watched the two quickly finish up the last segment of the game's level.

"Hey, I'm gonna go and get us some drinks, be right back okay?" Clyde informed the two, and took off.

"Alright then buddy!" Lincoln shouted back at Clyde, who was already far from them.

With Clyde gone, the two focused again on their game. For some reason, their focus on the game was much greater than before. Not that Clyde was a distraction, of course. Although, it seems that Lincoln is forgetting another member in their group.

It took only a slight tingle on the back of his neck to remind him that the belt was very much there with them.

" _Oh hey, I guess you're awake now?_ " He spoke to the belt just by thinking about about the words he wanted to say to it. Kind of like Telepathy, except that its' one-sided since it's the belt that is projecting its' thoughts to Lincoln and freely reading his mind.

Also a thing to note, it wasn't too long ago when he realized that the belt possesses the mind workings similar to humans, in that it thinks, sleeps, and decides by, and for itself. That, in a way, would effectively make it some sort of a parasite. But at least it's not feeding off of Lincoln.

" _What do you think? Do we have a chance?_ " He asked the belt about the game.

The belt responded without much hope in its' tone that only Lincoln could hear. It then suggested a change of tactics on how they were playing, since, all the two were doing right now was to clear off the screen through endless button mashing, like most people would.

" _Huh, I guess that could work. Wha-? Hey!_ " Lincoln agreed, which prompted the belt to take over the controls of his arms and used him to play the game.

What followed next surprised even Ronnie Anne, Lincoln was unleashing a series of combo and special attacks that would be otherwise impossible for normal people if their concentration were lacking.

"Whoa! What happened there Lame-O?" She asked, in awe from the sight of Lincoln easily finishing off the segment, "It's like you're suddenly too good at this. What, you got possessed by the gaming ghost or something?" She joked.

"Uh, well, you know? Just kinda saw through the patterns and all and… Stuff." He nervously replied, accompanied with a smile that lets out the same vibe from him.

Lincoln felt another tingle down his neck commenting about his relation with his friend.

" _Yeah, she's my friend, Ronnie Anne. But I'm sure you already know her since you can just read my mind._ " He said to the belt and received what could only be heard as a buzz from it, which, he can only translate to the belt saying, without emotion, "True."

He then heard a whistle of some sort from the belt.

"Hah, I guess it is… Kind of romantic…" He unknowingly spat out what his reply was supposed to be.

"…What?" Came Ronnie Anne's voice, causing Lincoln to jump away in shock.

"Uh-, I mean-"

"What?" She sternly asked.

"You know what? I'm gonna check up on Clyde!" He ran off, clearly taking a route that doesn't lead to where his friend was currently at.

He finally stopped next to an arcade machine and leaned back against it. He sighed as he hung his head low and began smacking his own head. All while saying "Stupid." repeatedly to himself.

The belt then projected an apologetic message to his mind.

"Ugh, no. It's not your fault. I was the one who said it anyway even though I knew I had to just keep it to myself." He sighed again.

Not far from him, the sound of cheering and an occasional banging could be heard, much like how the kids from school would do when instigating a fight. It sounded like it was coming from the snack bar.

The realization of what was going on hit Lincoln like a speeding truck. He quickly rushed to the aforementioned location with one worry in mind, Clyde.

"Oh no, please, don't let it be him."

Upon arrival at the place where the crowds had gathered at, Lincoln jostled his way through the large group of tightly packed mob. Once he got to the front, he held his head and breathed out a sigh of relief when he saw his friend being nowhere around the center of the crowd.

"Hey there, Lincoln." Greeted his friend, giving him quite the scare.

Lincoln held his chest and recollected his composure. He looked at his friend and spoke up, "Oh, thank goodness."

"What happened here?" Asked Clyde, who turned his attention to the imminent fight between two boys who looked to be around their own age.

"I could ask you the same thing."

Just before the two could make their moves, a worker shouted at the two, breaking the two from their duel. The other kids then hurriedly left the scene, leaving only four people left. The two that were about to fight as well as the duo, Clincoln McLoud.

"What are you two still doing here? Git'," The man ordered said duo to go, "And as for you two…" He turned to the other two, ready to give them a scolding.

Lincoln and Clyde complied and walked away from the scene, wanting no further trouble with the worker and risk getting banned from Gus' Games n' Grubs. However, Lincoln took one last glance over his shoulder and saw the confused faces of the two kids.

He recalled seeing something weird about their reaction. When the man first yelled at them, it looked like the two were snapped from a trance.

Sensing something else in that, he stopped when his hair stood up. Only in this case, it wasn't because of the belt like usual.

" _You feel that right?_ " He asked the belt, who gave him a click as a way of responding to his question. Or simply, a yes.

"What's going on Lincoln?"

"Nothing, you go on ahead, there's something I need to take care of." He told Clyde and waved him goodbye, his friend returning the gesture as he made his leave.

Lincoln then turned back to where the fight was supposed to take place and slowly walked his way back there. Seeing that those who were there not too long ago had already left, he let the belt do its' job. Pointing his buckle all around him until the belt gave a signal while pointed at a certain machine.

Crouching down next to the machine's panel, Lincoln pulled the buckle away from where it was stuck on and planted it on the panel, as per the belt's request. Within moments, the panel came off and Lincoln caught it just in time before it could hit the ground and alert nearby bystanders. He inspected the bolts that was securing it in place and saw that the head had been cut off clean from its' body.

"Wait, what did you do?" Lincoln asked, worried about getting caught.

A buzz from the belt told him that its' best if he to work quickly and just get away as fast as possible.

With a grunt, hinting at his reluctant agreement, Lincoln took off the belt from the panel and placed it back on his real belt's buckle. He then carefully placed the panel on the side and looked inside the machine to see what was giving off that weird signature from earlier.

Within the machine, was a strange hardened wax-like substance that gave out a faint blue glow.

"What is that thing?" Lincoln extended his arm so he could touch the object.

"Hey, kid?" Came a voice from behind, forcing Lincoln to hastily get himself out of the machine and bumped his head in the process.

"Ow." The boy held his head in pain before turning to face behind him, "Wh-" and stopped to look up to the person behind him, "-at?"

"Move aside please, I need to see it too." The teen asked of him in a polite manner.

"O-of course! Here yo-" Lincoln again cut himself off and gave the teen a suspicious look, "Wait, how do you know about this?" He asked, receiving only a nonchalant shrug in response.

Though wary of the stranger, Lincoln still complied to his request, allowing him to take a look inside of the machine.

"Who are you?"

"The name's Julius. You?" Answered the teen, who moved his head out of the machine to pull out something from the right side of his waist. A strange hexagonal item which had a handle that was pulled up from the bottom.

"Nice to meet you." He plainly said, although it did sound genuine. After inputting codes of some sort onto the device, he aimed it at the wax-like substance and within moments, it was pulled off from its' place and was stuck on the surface of Julius' device.

"What is that thing?" Lincoln asked, moving closer to take a closer look at the strange, glowing substance.

"Well, it's a-"

Cutting them short from their conversation was a violent shaking from the ground and a fast-moving 'object' that soon crashed onto the streets just outside the building.

Although it moved as a blur to most people, both Lincoln and Julius actually managed to make out what it was.

"Oswald."

"Yeah," Lincoln nodded, before going wide-eyed as he turned to Julius, "Wait, what!?"

* * *

Chapter End.

My goodness, I am very sorry about the outcome of this chapter. I didn't realize that by the time I was done, the words clocked in at over the normal amount I would have for chapters like this one. I know, I should have proofread this after finishing it, but it's a bit of a habit of mine to be doing so while I'm writing. So, sorry about that.

Also, this is also one of the chapters that had been holding me back during my 8 week break

Like usual with my closing lines, next chapter will be out soon enough, hopefully.


	15. Chapter 15 A change in difficulty

**Author's Notes:** Happy Halloween! ...I guess. Here's an early upload in celebration of that day! Make it double!

Chapter 15.

* * *

"What?" Julius confusedly asked, "Did I say something wrong?"

"You know about Oswald too?" Lincoln got up and looked at the teen.

"Yeah, he's a friend."

Lincoln found the teen's answers to be very casual that in a way, it was sort of unnerving.

"Anyway, questions for later. We'll need to get everyone out of here," The teen began, laying out his plans on getting the people out of trouble, "Wait." He stopped to look at Lincoln's belt.

"What?"

"Oh, you're the guy he told me about," He replied, smacking his head, "Lincoln Loud was it?"

"Yeah? Why?"

"You know what to do."

"Fight? Now?"

"Actually, you're right. Come on, I'm gonna need help in getting the people here away and to somewhere safer."

Without further delay, Julius got up and made his way back to the central part of the building, Lincoln following not far behind him. The impact from one of the combatants' crash had caused various other collateral damages. As such, people inside the building were in danger due to possibility of the building collapsing on them all soon, made even worse with panic from the power outage.

They quickly got to the first groups of people huddled together under the cover of darkness and gestured them to the best exit. Moving on from there, the two went on to help the people who were stuck underneath some rubble, with less difficulty now that Lincoln has his powers at their disposal. But of course, he is not alone in this.

With the 'rescue mission' going smoothly, the number of people trapped in the building had been reduced greatly.

"Right so, those were the last ones." Julius informed Lincoln.

"Great! Now, if we could just-"

"Lincoln!" Clyde and Ronnie Anne called out to him.

"Clyde! Ronnie Anne!" Lincoln called back to his friends and ran towards the two, "What are you guys doing? You need to get out of this place!"

"I know!" Clyde started.

"That's why we're here, come on! Let's get out of here!" With Ronnie Anne finishing what Clyde intended to say.

"I can't," Lincoln stated before explaining to his friends who were shocked to hear his words, "I need to help out the people here get out of here safely."

"what, why?" The two questioned Lincoln after hearing his response.

"I mean, that's good but what if you get caught between those two monsters out there?"

"But Lincoln, I'm sure most of the people got away already." Clyde tried to persuade Lincoln to go with them.

"I know, but, the hidden bodies…" Lincoln quietly whispered, with Julius the only one who managed to pick up what he said.

"Oh?" Julius said.

"What was that?" Clyde raised a brow.

"Nothing, in any case, you guys should go first. I'll catch up with you guys, I promise."

" _Oswald you little sewage system._ " Julius thought to himself, he knew where Lincoln got that from.

"No no no, look-"

"Ronnie Anne, please! You need to get out of here!" Lincoln persisted, not knowing that he had grabbed her arms and was practically glaring at her.

"Ugh, let go!" She pulled herself away from Lincoln and pushed him further, "I don't know what's going on with you, but you're coming with us!"

"Oh dear." Julius muttered under his breath and looked away, his focus landed towards the direction of the exit. He then noticed that not far from the door, there was a crack that worried him. He followed where it led and finally ended up with just above them. Part of the ceiling they were right under was just about to give in.

"Ronnie Anne, please! Just listen to me!" Lincoln was essentially just begging for her to do as he says by now.

"No, I'm the one who-"

Julius proved himself right when he pushed Ronnie Anne, Clyde and Lincoln, the former two to his right and the latter to his left, away from falling debris. Some bits of the rubble fell on him but he blocked it and only let out a small grunt once he was hit. Some of the chunks that broke off fell and hit the device on his right hip, slightly damaging it without Julius knowing.

Clyde recovered from the forceful push and gasped at the sight of Julius with pieces of the ceiling all around him, some were still the size of his head. He got up and walked up to the teen.

"Whoa! Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Really. You guys need to get out of here," Julius told Clyde, "This building's gonna collapse any minute now."

"Right!" Clyde nodded and ran back to Ronnie Anne's side, "Come on, we need to go, now!"

"But, what about Lincoln?"

Clyde looked back at Julius, who glanced to his side to see Lincoln getting back on his feet. The teen nodded to Clyde, which he noted as a signal indicating that their friend is okay.

"He's fine!" Clyde said to Ronnie Anne with a confident smile, he then helped her back up and ran off with her to get to the exit.

Lincoln shook his head and held it, still feeling dazed after getting pushed away suddenly. At least it was better than getting crushed, which is what he thought of when he saw Julius shaking his hand, trying to get through the pain.

"Are you okay?" He worriedly asked Julius.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks to these things, see?" Said the teen, showing his arm, not a single scrape nor scratch was on it.

"What?"

"My arm's actually got some protection, look." Julius said, knocking his arm, which made a banging sound audible enough for only those who were nearby.

"Wow." Said the boy, staring in awe at Julius' brace, which had the same coloration as his skin thus, explaining why it wasn't quite visible before.

While Lincoln was caught in amazement, the remaining supporting structures of the building had just broke down, sending the entire ceiling down on them.

Julius was just about to spring into action again except this time, it was Lincoln who jumped into it, erecting his barrier. The two were then lost in the midst of a large smokescreen created by the falling debris.

Both Ronnie Anne and Clyde stopped running when they heard and felt the ground shake after the building collapsed. They were horrified, although Clyde still kept in mind that Lincoln may have kept them safe.

Julius opened his eyes after covering them when the impact of the rubble caused smokescreen. He looked in front of him and saw Lincoln, now in his suit, holding his hands up in order to sustain the barrier.

The boy then undid the dome and turned around, asking, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, thanks," Julius said to him before looking at his device, "Wait a minute."

"What? What is it?"

"Oh no, no no no."

"What do you mean?"

"My stuff got damaged, it's nothing big but it might be troublesome. I'll need to fix this part real quick and reconfigure it. Good luck out there, I'll join up with you once I'm done with this." Said Julius as he pulled out the tool roll again and began browsing it for the right tool to use.

"Right!"

With that, Lincoln went off to the streets and looked around. It wasn't long before he heard a loud smacking sound from several blocks away and was greeted with Oswald, flying once again through the sky and landing hard next to him.

"Oswald!" Lincoln shouted as he ran towards the bug-like armored man.

"Took you long enough." Said Oswald coldly.

"Sorry, I met someone who seems to know you, Julius."

"Oh?"

The two were interrupted when two figures jumped in tens of meters away from them. One was an armored creature similar to Korax but with markings around the chestplate and the other was another mutant, this time bearing the likenesses of an octopus, although the number of tentacles it had were clearly much higher than that of one.

"Lincoln, I want you to keep that cephalopod in check. I need to get some information out of that one first." Oswald ordered the boy while he moved in to take on the commander.

Lincoln then ran forward, causing the octopus mutant to lash some of its' tentacles at him, which Oswald easily swatted away when he tapped into his speed. The counterattack gave Lincoln an opening to make his first strike onto the creature after it had shifted its' attention to Oswald.

Balling up his fist, Lincoln threw his fist forward as hard as he could and landed a good hit on the octopus' face, tumbling it backwards which allowed Lincoln to follow up with consecutive punches.

Without its' companion to defend him, the commander braced for impact as Oswald charged towards him like a giant bullet. Upon impact, Oswald continued on, bringing along the commander with him to a place far from the beast it had serving for him. The literal human bullet finally ended it by crashing his 'passenger' into a building, causing it to collapse and have big chunks of it thrown several meters away from the impact.

The commander hissed in pain as he slowly got up while rubbing his neck in pain. He looked forward to see Oswald walking towards him. Readying himself, he jumped out of the way when his opponent rushed forward again. Seeing an opportunity to strike back, he took it by throwing a punch, but was blocked by Oswald. The two stared at one another, locked in their current position.

Lincoln attempted to move in again to continue attacking the slightly dazed mutant but found himself unable to when the creature recovered and began lashing at him with its' tentacles.

The boy managed to dodge a few before taking several hits. Unlike Oswald, he isn't capable of perceiving fast moving objects or projectiles, this made it difficult for him to properly react when he was being attacked. His current situation left him with no choice but to put up his dome barrier.

The barrier materialized right above Lincoln and was dropped down just as several tentacles came close to but a few inches away from him. The dome dropping down on the appendages cut it down, which Lincoln briefly celebrated about until he looked again at the beast, standing still as it regrew its' severed limbs.

"Oh no…" Muttered Lincoln.

With its' newly regrown tentacles, the octopus began whipping its' limbs onto Lincoln's barrier with greater ferocity.

Lincoln's belt beeped to him as a warning sign that the barrier will soon wear out.

It took only a few more strikes before the dome shattered from the relentless onslaught. Lincoln, now as vulnerable as he was, tried to defend himself by putting his arms in front while crossed together diagonally. But the mutant however, proved to be physically stronger than Lincoln the way he is now and smacked him away with one its' appendage.

Lincoln struggled to get back on his feet and saw at least half a dozen tentacles rushing in. Shocked by the sight and out of hopelessness, he closed his eyes, leaving himself free to be attacked. Then, the tentacles all pierce through his body, skewering him in the process... Which is what would have happened had it not been for someone to intervene.

Lincoln looked to his side to see Julius with the device in his hand, now fully functional and with it, a light was projected onto the mutant's limbs which seemed to have dried it up. Julius ran towards the tentacles and smashed it by swiping his arm upwards.

"Julius!" Lincoln smiled from behind his helmet, happy to know that he can finally join up with him in battle.

"Hey Lincoln, sorry about that but I'm here now!" Said the teen, showing no confidence however, "But still, doing that took up a lot of this thing's energy. We're gonna need to make a plan if we're going to win this."

"Right!" Lincoln agreed.

"Now, let's go!"

Standing beside Lincoln, Julius inputted a code into his device's interface and pointed it upwards where it shot a light ring which immediately began lining up with patterns and lowered down onto Julius like a scanner, slowly forming his armor which was unlike the ones Lincoln have set his eyes on since his first transformation.

Julius then slid the device into a slot around his chest and an extra protective layer of armor formed into his chestplate when the scan ring rose back up and disappeared in mid-air. The teen now looked more like a robot than a person simply wearing an armor.

"Whoa!" Lincoln was once again, awestruck at the sight of Julius' armor. It looked bulky but apparently Julius can move just fine with it when he took a fighting stance.

"Alright buddy, let's go!"

"Yeah!"

With that, the two ran towards the mutant, now with its' limbs regenerated and once again, ready to fight.

* * *

Chapter End.

And, there we go! Chapter 15!

Sorry if it became a bit weird around the end, but I suppose that's what happens when you mess around for too long.

Also there, now we have a Metal Hero at our disposal!

Like always, next chapter will be coming out soon.


	16. Chapter 16 Co-op

Chapter 16.

Lincoln and Julius continued to unleash their attacks on the cephalopod, not letting up anytime soon. It was all they could do right now, not a single shred of a plan even came into their mind during all the time they've been doing this.

" _Argh, come on! What can_ _ **I**_ _do here? He seems to regenerate everytime we cut off anymore of his tentacles!_ " Lincoln thought to himself before blocking an incoming tentacle which he quickly rips off.

Usually, he'd throw it on the ground after ripping off a tentacle but this time he instead used it as a squeeze toy to vent his anger on. After nearly crushing it in his hand, it no longer felt like it was in his grip. He looked to see that the piece had disintegrated to dust in his hand.

Seeing that got Lincoln thinking, maybe if he cut a vital part then it would just stop. He then looked at Julius, who still kept up with the monster racing its' tentacles all around him, trying to strike a fatal wound on the teen.

He watched as Julius barely escape multiple tentacles striking in at once and catch one that was closer to the creature's body and cut it. He then noticed that it was regenerating rather slowly compared to the ones he got near the tip.

" _Maybe, just maybe._ "

Lincoln quickly went back in to aid Julius and got as close as he could without making them both look like an easier target for the mutant.

"Hey Julius!" Lincoln called out before ducking to dodge another attack from the beast.

"What is it?"

"What if we try cutting off the tentacles closer to the base?" Suggested the boy.

"Why?"

"They seem to grow slower than when you cut it near the tip."

Hearing Lincoln's observation, Julius dodged one and caught it in his hand. He yanked it to make the octopus lose its' footing and tore apart the tentacle he was holding. He watched as the monster's healing factor kick in just as potently but with a slower healing rate.

"I see. Seems that while it's the creature's most preferred weapon, it is also quite a sensitive part to it." Julius concluded with his own observation while dodging several tentacles.

"Alright, we're gonna move in with what we have then, huh?" Lincoln asked.

While the two-on-one battle continued on, another one seemed to have come to yet another pause. The two combatants, Oswald and the commander, stood opposite of each other by several meters away.

"You're good. Better than Korax, I must say." Oswald complimented his opponent for lasting against him for quite a while as he panted, trying to catch his breath. Somehow he got pretty exhausted just by battling against this one.

"And I've heard stories saying that you are a terrible fighter. I can see now that they were wrong. Still, Korax is not weak, just inexperienced" Replied the commander, which Oswald nodded to.

"What's your name?"

"Sa'ur Lund. Surname first."

"Very well then Lund, what is your final wish before I take you down?" Oswald asked, still keeping the same straight-faced expression beneath that mask of his.

"Wish? None yet, but I will expose to you a way to defeat my companion. Sufficient pulling force on its' tentacles will daze it, it's regeneration can be slowed down if more are cut down simultaneously or if the stubs are to be cauterized. It can heal even if parts smaller than a finger survives, so I suggest reducing it to dust, I know that's easy enough for you."

"Fascinating, what's the catch?"

"Try getting through me first."

"Fair enough."

With those closing words, the two charged again at each other and clashed, the force of which was big enough to tear apart nearby buildings with its' resulting shockwave.

Julius and Lincoln were thrown around their battlefield like ragdolls, even after having thought of a plan, they were still missing a way on how to get close to the creature. It won't be long before they both run out of energy. Hence the reason Lincoln had put up his shield while they were both still standing.

"Dammit! There's no way we can get close to that thing like this! My suit only enhances my speed so much. I can soak up the damage, but I don't think it'll last long enough for you to get there." Julius said as he recovered from his injuries.

"If only Oswald was here," Lincoln sighed, "This thing knows how to break my shield now. I can only reinforce it little by little once the damage gets bad."

The dome went silent save for the continuous banging sound from outside that is the mutant trying to break through and claim their lives. It was only a matter of time before something happens, and when it does, it won't be good for the two.

Julius then began feeling anxious, he clutched his stomach and looked around outside the dome. He had picked up a habit of counting how many attacks were thrown at them whenever he's in a pinch, and he's noticed that there were less banging sounds outside than before. He also notes how the ground isn't protected by the barrier. His fears were proven true when for a brief moment, he saw the creature's tentacles drill into the ground and erupted right under them.

In order to prevent themselves from getting caught by the surprise attack, Lincoln undid his barrier, which led to them getting caught in the way of incoming tentacles.

The two of them were just about to jump away when in the blink of an eye, they were being constricted by the mutant's powerful limbs. If they don't find a way to escape, then it looks like it'll only be a matter of time before they get crushed.

Julius' armor was doing its' part in keeping him safe although, the device that is now the core of it is close enough to be reduced to scrap metal if the creature continues. Lincoln's noticeably thinner armor however, isn't faring quite well. They boy was losing his breath, and will soon pass out.

The teenager began brainstorming in the heat of the situation, looking for anything that he can use to let himself free. Seeing that he was mostly being constricted around the chest area, he used it to his advantage by taking a rather risky action. He wiggled his arms around and slid them upwards so he could give himself more space. Once he had done so, he placed a hand over the core and de-materialized the chestplate and pulled away his transformation device and planted it firmly on the constrictive appendage.

With the push of a button, he sent a powerful electrical discharge through the cephalopod's tentacle, causing it to let go of him.

Julius grabbed a hold of the tentacle and sent another shock which caused a temporary muscle spasm on it, giving him time to jump towards Lincoln before the creature could launch another one of its' weapons. He did the same with the one that was crushing Lincoln in its' grip and again, forced it to let go of the boy.

As the beast reeled back from the pain, so did Lincoln tried recovering from his damage.

"Lincoln! You okay?" Asked Julius.

Before Lincoln could respond, he saw several tentacles coming at them fast. Out of reflex, he pushed Julius behind him and put up his dome barrier, only this time, it came out differently and had its' curved surface pointing towards the tentacles.

Once the tentacles struck the curve, it was quickly ricocheted away from the duo.

"Yes!" Lincoln cheered.

" _That was strange…_ " Julius thought to himself and switched his sensor to that of an energy sensor to confirm his suspicion. When the tentacles struck again at the same spot, he finally concluded his observation, " _As I thought, there's very little energy signature coming from the impact. It's like the shield can now dissipate the energy all around it and re-converge the energy taken back to it and cause it to bounce away violently at the moment it ricochets._ "

Putting it simply, the shield could reflect any damages done to it

He walked up to Lincoln and told of him what he could gather.

Lincoln kept quiet as he absorbed the information Julius had just gave him before he got an idea.

"That's it! Julius!"

"What?"

"If that's how the shield works, then maybe I can make this work!"

"I'm listening."

"See, if we could just daze it again by pulling on some of its' tentacles, then we can get close enough and trick it. Here's how it goes: we can do as if we're about to attack it from that range, and I can see that it should have recovered by then and it'll launch an attack from below us."

"Below us?"

"Oh, you see, we're going to need its' tentacles to be yanked after getting behind it. Then, surely, it'll try that move to stab us from behind." Lincoln explained Julius' confusion, who simply nodded.

"Right, proceed."

"Okay, when it does attack from below us, I'll put the shield up, facing downwards and let go. That should leave the shield with no stable base and the force from the downwards strike should bounce the shield upwards and flip it over so we will both be inside the dome with it inside where we can simply use our energy-infused punches and cause an explosion. My barrier can then contain the energy and, while it also makes for an effective killing strike, it should also reduce collateral damage!"

An expressive series of beeps from Lincoln's belt notified him on its' agreement with his plan.

"Impressive. My energy reserves will soon be exhausted, but I think it should be enough to do this." Julius complimented on Lincoln's plan while nodding.

"Alright, let's go!" Lincoln said just as the shield was shattered from a more focused strike aimed towards the center.

Thanks to their enhanced reflexes, both Lincoln and Julius deflected the oncoming tentacles away from them and began running full force towards the mutant. As they rushed forward, they deflected every incoming attacks, some barely scratching against their armor. Julius used his little trinket to give out electrical shocks to any tentacles he could get his hands on.

Lincoln began experimenting with his shield during his run, pulling out different types of shield before settling with a disc-shaped version that rapidly spins like a buzzsaw which he used to cut down the tentacles.

It wasn't long before something else happened. The commander who's in charge came running past the two and stopped just behind his companion. He looked at both Lincoln and Julius for a while before kicking the creature on the back of its' knees, causing it to kneel on one leg.

"Never liked this thing anyway." He said before he continued to flee from the scene, jumping up on the buildings as he made his way.

"What the-?" Was all Lincoln could mutter before Oswald came to a stop in front of them.

"Oswald! Good to see you!" Julius greeted the man.

"We'll save the formality for later. But first, got any plans Lincoln?"

"Yes sir! Julius, if you would?"

"Here, take this," Julius handed out an earpiece, a small square item, "I'll give you the instructions as we go on, right?"

A nod from Oswald was enough for them to continue.

"First, get behind it, and get two of its' tentacles pinned down. Yank them first." Julius began.

Oswald did not hesitate to do just as he was told and easily got behind the mutant once he tapped into his speed. He waited for the incoming tentacles to come and cut down unnecessary ones. He grabbed two and yanked them just as he was instructed to, then pinned them down on the ground.

Julius and Lincoln then made their move, coming closer to the creature and easily deflected away the remaining tentacles. Which is to say, not much left.

They did just as they planned, preparing their arms as if to throw a punch as Julius gave the next command.

"Let it go!"

Oswald then loosened his grip, tricking the creature as if he is no longer capable of holding it down and allowed to himself to be struck on the chest to make it seem believable.

The mutant, not seeing through the facade, did just as Lincoln planned. It dug its' two remaining tentacles into the ground and erupted from behind the two younger fighters.

Julius, having expected this, nudged Lincoln as a way to signal him.

The two then jumped up while Lincoln simply materialized the barrier without stabilizing it, while having it pointed downwards. The tentacles struck hard on the curved surface of the dome, causing it to bounce off and flip the barrier over, just as Lincoln planned.

Oswald decided to put in his own touch into the plan. He jumped up and extended a leg, propelling himself towards the mutant, ready to finish it off with an energy-infused flying kick.

Lincoln and Julius too had their own attacks prepared, one is coated in an orange-colored energy while the other was a device that acted as a knuckleduster.

All three of them connected their finishing strikes just as the dome covered them. The resulting explosion was violent, shaking the ground beneath and also vaporizing it as well as the mutant within. Or at least it was supposed to.

The barrier was undone and from within the smokescreen, emerged two people, a young boy and a teen.

"We did it!" Lincoln celebrated, now back in his civilian form.

"You did a great job there, junior!" Julius complimented on his success.

The two heard a clapping sound from the smoke, from where an insect-themed armored man came out of.

"I'm very impressed. You managed to think of all that while under the attack of that creature? I'll be honest, planning under pressure isn't my best point." Oswald congratulated the boy.

Lincoln shyly rubbed the back of his head before he noticed something weird.

"Hey, what's that?" He asked, pointing at the green-colored orb in Oswald's hand.

"This? It's the creature. I've reverted it back to its' normal form."

"Wait, what?"

"I also did it with the frog from half a week ago."

"Huh."

The sound of a vehicle in the distance was audible to the three and Lincoln happens to recognize it most.

"Uh-oh, it's them!"

Chapter End.

There we go!

Honestly, the plan didn't go quite well, it sounded good in my head. Probably actually is, I just didn't word it correctly.

Anyway, Chapter 17 coming soon.


	17. Chapter 17 Game's Over

Chapter 17.

* * *

"Lincoln!" Shouted the aforementioned boy's sisters. All wearing an anxious expression on their face. They were accompanied by his two friends. Though, one of them weren't here, which was Luan.

"I'm right here!" Lincoln emerged from the large cloud of smoke where their battle ended. Julius followed him closely.

"Lincoln!" His sisters and friends ran up to him, happy to know and see that he is well and alive, in one piece.

The buck-toothed boy was then surrounded and hugged by his sisters, nearly crushing him in the process. He was then released shortly after.

"I can't believe it, you actually made it out!" Ronnie Anne voiced her disbelief after giving him a playful punch to the shoulder.

The group were then interrupted by the sound of footsteps coming from the smoke, then from it, came the man who had made quite the impression on some of the people there. Without any concern for his identity, Oswald undid his armor and simply looked as Lincoln's friends and sisters, sans Clyde, Luna, Leni and the twins, stared at him. Julius however, was surprised he did that.

"Oswald!" The 4 Loud sisters who'd seen him said, shocking their sisters even more.

"You know that guy?" Lori asked, pointing towards Oswald.

"Yeah, he was the one who saved us back then!" One of the twins answered.

"Aside from the orange guy. And Zed, and the officers." Luna said.

"Everything seems to be in order here." Julius spoke up, getting unwanted attention as a result.

"Who are you?"

Before the teen could answer that, he was immediately swarmed on and bombarded with countless questions.

"Whoa, hey! One at a time!" He said, getting the girls to back away from him, "First off, Julius, that's my name. Second, I am not a friend of Lincoln, well, wasn't. I just happen to run into the little guy on my way out here. So, we decided to work together if we wanted to get out alive."

"Huh, well, thank you for keeping our brother safe. We're just really worried about him." Lori spoke on her sisters' behalf, who all nodded.

"It was nothing. It doesn't really matter who we are, we'll all just end up helping each other once trouble comes."

"Hey! Hey, hey!" Came the voice of a very familiar man.

"Mr. Abe?" Lincoln said, watching as his teacher came running towards them. Following him closely was their missing sister, Luan.

Zed then stopped to catch his breath and wiped away his sweat.

"Huh, guess it's all over then, huh? Came as soon as I heard the news. Come on you guys, can't always put yourselves through this."

"Oh, we actually just got here." Lincoln's sisters explained their situation.

"Speaking of which, what were you doing? Why are you so exhausted?" Lincoln asked.

"Was back at the hospital where your teachers had been moved to. They're recovering just nicely. About your parents. Well, they're not conscious yet."

Zed's news got the Loud family feeling down. Oswald looked at him questioningly.

"Oh, but I mean, they are recovering well! No need to worry about that! I am sorry though."

"It's okay actually." Lori assured him that nobody was to blame.

"Anyway, you guys met Julius yet?" Zed walked up to the teen and asked the others.

"You know him?" Asked the crowd.

"Well, yeah. Oswald too."

"What!?"

Once again, the Loud family were in for quite a surprise, it seems that more and more things keep happening and surprising them. However, although the current threat was over, the end of the road extends far beyond the horizon still.

Chapter Ends.

* * *

Like usual, short resolution chapter.

A bit of a change in the upload interval for the next two chapters, they will instead come in the previous 1-week intervals.

Anyway, chapter 18 coming soon.


	18. Chapter 18 Medical Experience

Chapter 18.

* * *

3 days prior…

"There we go!" Zed said as he finished the final touch-ups in making the room comfortable for the wounded teachers. Within the medical tent too, were the two teachers who were absent during the first attack.

"Thank you, Mr. Abraham. But, you've done so much for us in such a short time that we feel deeply indebted to you." Huggins thanked Zed, also offering to repay him through the implication of his words.

"What? Nah, I don't think you guys need to repay me at all."

"Oh, but we insist. If you hadn't taken up the coach and my spot here, we may not have been around today. Although it did leave my students in danger." Mrs. Johnson said.

"It's alright, no one saw that coming. Neither did I," Zed lied to her to comfort her troubled mind, "Besides, nobody lost their lives, and I managed to lead them out to safety."

"But surely there's something we can do for you." Huggins said, still wanting to repay the favor.

"There is one thing," Zed paused, giving the other teachers a small glint of hope of repaying their debts, "Just call me Zed, and we're okay."

Zed then got up and walked out of the tent they were in, giving the 'so long' gesture as did so.

For 2 days ever since his visit to the school, Zed had been the one taking care of his fellow teachers. He insisted on doing so, although the doctors were at first reluctant on letting him take care of them alone but, after some persuasions, he finally got the permit to be on his way.

He has a rather good amount of knowledge on how to take care of patients. So far, there hasn't been any complications with him and the doctors when they were in to perform check-ups on the patients.

On his way out, Zed was met with one of the nurses who were here when the camps were first set up.

"Ah, sir-"

"Zed."

"-Zed. I'm here regarding the news of the hospital's reconstruction. It seems that they will be done in a couple of days or so. Once they're finished, most of the patients who are still injured are to be transferred there."

"Thank you, Maria, I'll let these guys know." Zed nodded.

The two then bid farewell to the medic and stood around for a moment before finally going back in to inform the teachers.

"Hey, I'm only here for a moment. Just wanted to let you guys know, in 2 days or so, you guys should be transferred to the hospital. That's how you can repay me, get well soon." Zed smiled as he finished and walked back outside.

"He's a fine young man, isn't he, Principal Huggins?" Mrs. Johnson said to the principal.

"He is, but something about him just feels a bit off."

"And what would that be?"

"I don't know myself." Huggins simply leaned back on his bed, not knowing how exactly he should say it.

Chapter End.

* * *

That's chapter 18.

I know there's something else I can put there, but I think I'm going to save it for later. Which sounds stupid now that I've typed it in.

Anyway, like usual, Chapter 19, coming out next week.


	19. Chapter 19 A different perspective

**Author's Notes:** **In celebration of this story having exceeded the views of my previous story, "The Newcomer", the following chapters will be posted within 1 week from each uploads. Also because the first actual major arc will happen soon.**

 **P/S: Sorry for the late upload.**

Chapter 19.

* * *

A few days have passed, and the hospital has been finished. The necessary equipment were still enough from back at the shelter, staff members too were still enough to take care of the people who were still injured from the first attack. Maybe on a lesser scale now that quite a lot of them have actually fully recovered.

Some of them have been getting a pretty good treatment now that there was a person who had offered to provide entertainment since tv's were out of the question, save for the one that was still working back at the main counter.

Actually there were 2, one was the well-known comedian, Luan Loud and the other was her former school teacher, Zed Abraham.

While the latter didn't do much on entertaining them, he did provide a good way to help the remaining patients get better, he acted as the person they could let out their feelings on. As someone they could talk to. A shoulder to cry on. Some even shared their secrets to him, which Zed told them to ease up on, so as to not trust him that much.

At this early morning hours, Zed had already moved out with Luan to the hospital. The girl had been doing something similar for quite a while by herself, but didn't have it too easy on transportation, this is where Zed comes in for her by providing that.

Zed parked his car out at the appropriate spot and looked on at the hospital.

"Alright, Luan, here we go again." Said the man as he and the young teen got out of the car.

"Thanks again for the ride, Mr. Zed."

"You're welcome on that."

The two immediately head inside and checked in by the counter. After doing so, they walked down the halls, chatting as they made their way to the elevator. As of now, none of the ground floors were used.

"So, Luan, how have you girls been doing while I was gone?" Zed asked.

"We're actually doing pretty good, if a bit down since you were gone."

"Sorry for changing school all of a sudden. But hey, since most of the buildings here are wrecked, or currently out, we can all probably hang out sometime."

"Yeah, that sounds good!"

One of these days, they might all just feel too guilty for letting Zed help them out too much. Not just in saving their lives, such as Lincoln back when he first met him, but also emotionally.

The two then arrived on their desired floor after a rather quiet elevator trip. They walked out and came to a stop right outside the rooms.

"Okay, Luan, you can go on from here on. I'm going to pay your teachers a visit."

"Alright, teach!" Luan gave a thumbs up as she went into one of the rooms after completing her clown attire, ready to start her usual work.

Zed then went off on his own to find the room where his co-workers are. It didn't take long for him to find the room. He took a deep breath and sighed it out before holding down the handle and pushing open the door.

"Hello again guys!" Zed greeted the people inside after being away from for quite a while, he wasn't there when the teachers were transferred to the hospital.

Inside the room were only 3 of the teachers who were at school back when they got their injuries: Principal Huggins, Mrs. Shrinivas and Lincoln's art teacher whom Zed honestly haven't known yet. Two of them are now awake.

Their room had been decorated with items from the school, Principal Huggins had a collection of his surviving Ace Savvy comics, Mrs. Shrinivas had her section filled with handicrafts made by the children she used to teach.

Once he was there, he simply grabbed a seat and began talking to his friends at work, passing their time with each topic brought up. Quite a lot of them was regarding their personal lives. Of course, there were some where they discussed about the students' grades.

Without realizing it, midday has already come and lunch was being served to the teachers.

"Alright, I'll let you guys be as you are for now, I'm going out for a while." Zed said to the teachers as he got up and walked out of the room.

He walked down the halls and went over to the nearest vending machine, Luan was there too, having just finished a drink.

"Hey there, girl." He greeted her.

"Oh, hey there, Mr. Zed! Man, these guys were quite a handful, hard to keep up with them."

"What? Thought you were used to that?" Zed said as he inserted a coin into the slot and waited for his drink to drop down.

"Yeah, but it felt like it was harder to make them laugh this time. Like they were feeling down more than usual."

"Ah well, they'll get through it. I'll try talking to some of them when I find the time, ask what's pulling them so far down. In the meantime, try not to get yourself sad over it, okay?" Zed tried cheering Luan up, which seemed to work as the girl beamed a toothy smile at him and nodded.

Zed then felt beads of sweat trickle down his face, his gut wasn't feeling well and his head was feeling a bit heavy. Something was happening.

"Hey, why don't we drop by the counter and see what's shaking on the TV?" Zed suggested.

"Yeah, sounds good." Luan agreed and followed Zed as he headed towards the elevator.

The two then went down to the ground floor in yet another silent trip by elevator.

When they finally exited the elevator and got to the main entrance, the place was filled with people. They had a somewhat horrified expression on their face as they looked on the TV screen. It seems that Zed's gut feeling was right on things being bad.

"What's going on here?" Luan asked, turning to see her teacher clutching his stomach with one hand, though his face was still that of his usual calm one.

"Let's find out." Zed said as he stopped clutching his stomach and walked down to take a look at the TV as well.

Once they got there, Zed had to jostle his way through to help both Luan and himself to get a good look on the TV, where an aerial view of an entire block can be seen. As the reporter was about to begin, a blurry figure sped past and struck another one that the cameraman had just caught on.

The result of their clash was a devastating shockwave that shook the entire city block and possibly beyond, large clouds of smoke were kicked up into the air, obscuring their vision.

The people watching the TV were starting to panic just as the news team did.

"Dammit, Oswald." Zed muttered to himself.

"Oh no…" Luan grimly said, which Zed took as bad news.

"What?"

"Isn't that where the arcade is at? Lincoln said he was going there with Clyde this morning!"

"What!?" Zed exclaimed, though, at a volume low enough so he doesn't attract much attention.

Luan clasped her hands together and brought them close to her face. She was wishing and hoping that her only brother makes it out alive. Not knowing that Lincoln is actually one of the participants of the first battle, not that Zed has any plans on letting them know at this point.

"Don't worry," Zed placed his hand on Luan's shoulder, "He'll be fine. Your brother, that is."

Right now, all they could do was keep watch. A lot more happened, keeping the viewers all at the edge of their seat, figuratively speaking at least. Though, it didn't last for much longer when the feed was lost, cutting everyone off from the action.

The people who were there went back to their places and resumed their day, although the news was clearly still at the back of their minds.

Zed could only look on as the people walk back to their places looking like they've been sapped off all their energies. He turned to Luan, who was anxiously tapping her foot on the floor after having taken a seat on a nearby bench. He decided that it was better for them to wait it out, and for him, to let things play out a little longer. Hopefully Lincoln and the others manage to finish this up nicely.

"And then after that, several hours later, the news came back on and showed the final act where Oswald and the others were finally bringing the fight back to that thing." Zed finished telling his story.

"Fascinating, but were the parts where you visited the patients really necessary?" Julius asked.

"Sure is." Zed smiled.

"Alright, don't wanna argue with that."

"Anyway, you guys look like you could use a little bit of time together. You know, ease up a little?" Zed suggested.

"Yeah, like Mr. Zed and I talked about, maybe we could all have our time together in the city? It may not be much, but it'll better than nothing." Luan joined in suggesting.

"Sounds good!" Lincoln agreed to Zed's plans, his sisters too following suit.

"It's settled then! Tomorrow, we'll be off!"

"Well, looks like that's the end of our work today." Julius said.

"Yeah, we'll see you guys tomorrow." Lincoln.

"I'm not gonna be there." Oswald said.

"Come on, don't be too serious man, ease up. Alright, let's all go home!" Zed happily said, turning back to head towards his car.

Oswald simply grunted and walked away before he transformed back into suit and ran off, leaving trails of dust and smoke in his way.

"How about you Julius? Who's gonna give you a ride?" Lincoln asked.

"I'm gonna have to ask Zed about that. Why don't you two come along? I'm sure he'll be fine with helping you." Julius offered Clyde and Ronnie Anne.

"Yeah, I don't see why not." Clyde happily accepted his offer.

"Eh, I guess it helps not having to walk all the way home." Ronnie Anne decided to tag along as well.

"Goodbye you guys!" Julius bid as he and Lincoln's two friends ran off towards Zed, who happened to be waiting just outside his car.

The group once again parted ways as the sun begins to set. Another eventful day has ended, and for once, maybe a little bit of rest is all it needs for people to help them get through the next day. Though, one thing seems to be a bit off.

"Wait, how are we going to get home now? Didn't look like they noticed us." The cameraman asked, watching as the others left the scene, leaving only him, the news reporter and their pilot.

"I'll just ask one of my friends to give us a ride." The news anchor said as she pulled out a phone from her pocket.

Chapter Ends.

* * *

There, a bit dragged out but I think it shouldn't be too bothersome to read.

Next chapter will be the last breather before we finally move on to the prelude for the first big arc.

Next chapter, coming soon.


	20. Chapter 20 A small talk

**Author's Notes:** **Change of plans, I have just realized that because I had my little 8-week long break, I have been on a serious lag. To make that up, and because I want to finish up this arc before next year, I'll change my upload times to Tuesday, Thursdays and either Saturday or Sunday. (At least, in my time zone)**

Chapter 20.

* * *

It had only been a day since the chaos at the arcade happened, and it was still fresh in the minds of the children who had nearly lost their lives during all that. However, Lincoln Loud weren't quite affected by it. Most likely due to having adjusted rather well with his new lifestyle. Though, it does seem to come with a negative side-effect of its' own, he isn't affected by it. Though, there is another story to unfold here.

Which brings us to where we are, The Mall. Zed promised them that they will all be having fun, which unfortunately turned out like this. He's given each one of the girls an extra 200 dollars in addition to their allowance so that they can get the things that they want as long as it doesn't exceed what they were given. Of course, the twins needed someone to be their supervisor, and Lisa was picked for it. Weirdly enough, nobody questioned Zed's wealth.

Clyde and Ronnie Anne too were there with them. Without any doubt, their guardians were initially far too worried that they might be involved in something dangerous again, they ultimately convinced to let them go. A miracle, really, what Zed can do to convince them. He offered some money to the two as well, Ronnie Anne however politely declined it and instead only went off to hang out with Lincoln's sisters.

Perhaps their excitement was also because Zed told them that their outing would go on until tomorrow, where they would be at the beach.

At the very least, the boys were all gathered at one place anyone would be at while they're waiting for anyone to finish their shopping spree, a random bench where they can rest themselves. Except for Oswald, who haphazardly leaned against the glass barrier.

"Well, this blows." Lincoln commented on their current situation.

"But hey, at least it's all men here, right?" Zed kept his positive attitude, looking over at everyone, Julius and Clyde were the only ones who agrees while Oswald only kept quiet.

"Anyway, let's strike up a conversation shall we? We wouldn't want to die of boredom do we?" Zed cheerfully begins.

"Have to, do we?" Julius said, imitating Zed's repetition in ending his sentences like that.

"You know, why don't we introduce ourselves first?" Clyde chimed in, "After all, we've only just met, you and him. And I haven't been able to ask about it at first." He pointed at Julius and Oswald.

"Oh, right." Julius saw the truth in the boy's words and cleared up his throat, "The name is Julius. Surname classified, for reasons I'd like to keep to myself."

"O-kay?"

"Continuing on, I am currently 15 and a child prodigy. Somewhat." Said Julius, looking away after saying that last part.

"Really?" Lincoln asked, finally interested.

"Yeah, I graduated from elementary and the following schools when I was 13. Supposed to get into college the following year when I-" Julius clenched his fist and fell silent, "When I- When I…"

"…When you what?" Asked Clyde.

Before the situation got tense, Zed defused it, "Well, just goes to show that there are some things that shouldn't be let out," He placed a hand on Julius' shoulder and patted it, "But the most important thing is that, it's passed and you should be glad it did. Just don't worry about it or it will really come back to bite you."

"Yeah… Thanks Zed." Julius smiled and sighed.

"Well, if that's how it's like, then I won't bother you to tell me." Said the geeky boy.

Clyde then turned to Oswald, and before he could even say a thing, the taciturn man began speaking.

"I suppose you'd want to know who I am then?" He said in his usual moody tone.

"Uh- Yes!"

"Oswald Kresten. 32 years old, hailed from Cambridge. Once, I was a different person than the one you know today, but just as angry. Perhaps less…"

"So, anything else?"

"You wouldn't want to know, I can't let you know," Oswald looked up before whispering, "Not yet."

"What was that?" Clyde raised an eyebrow. Receiving no response, he sighed and scratched his head, "I didn't think it'd be this hard to get you guys to talk."

"Don't bite off more than you can chew, kid." Oswald said, looking at Clyde, who felt unnerved by how sharp his eyes looked.

"Yes sir!" He didn't even hesitate nor stutter to answer to what he could only see as a threat from the man.

Lincoln only looked at Clyde with an expression that says " _I told you so._ ", he did tell him of his rather grim personality, just yesterday too.

"Anyway," Zed interrupted the silence, "Continuing on, you've already known me, Zed Abraham. Just call me Zed while we're hanging out, besides, school's out for quite some time. Especially with yours, hoo boy it was but a mountain of rubble when I went back there to retrieve your bags."

"Oh yeah, that. Thanks for handing us our bags back!." Lincoln thanked his teacher.

"You're welcome. Also uh," The well-mannered man checked on his watch and slowly lifted his head before nodding, "The girls should be here soon and it's almost noon."

"Great, it should be lunch soon anyway- Hey, why are you so sure that my sisters are-"

"Hey guys, we're back!" Lori happily announced their return.

"But, how did you…" Lincoln was completely dumbfounded.

"It's not just luck in play here Lincoln, you gotta have a strong intuition to help you along with things as they are now." Zed told him, which Lincoln noticed the encrypted message within. Somehow.

A gasp from Lynn caught everyone's attention, seems she's got something to say, "Hey guys! I know a good restaurant not far from here!"

"You mean, that one?" Luna asked.

"Yeah, that place!" Lynn replied, not looking like she'll say the name of the place anytime soon.

"Oh, that place!" The rocker girl pointed a finger at the sporty Loud.

"…What place?" Julius interpolates himself into the conversation between the two.

"We'll show you guys!" Lynn offered and gestured the guys to come along as she and the other girls began moving.

"Actually, you guys can go ahead. We'll catch up later." Lincoln said, waving at them.

Zed had something to talk to him about and Lincoln managed to decipher that message in his words. They waited for a while, presumably until the others were out of hearing range, before Zed got up and adjusted the collar of his suit.

Speaking of suits, he seems to have quite a lot of it. Just yesterday he was wearing one that was only the same as the one he first showed up in and today he's wearing one that has some line patterns on it.

"Alright so, this is regarding your performance yesterday. First off, congratulations on finishing a battle that you've taken direct participation in. Second, your powers. It was basic, quite malleable, and of course very effective. But, do you know how to consciously control all of that power in you?"

Lincoln looked down and thought for a while before raising his head again to look at Zed as he gave his response, "I don't think so, if I recall correctly on what I was doing, I was only experimenting with what the belt could do for me, not what I can do myself."

"Then you might need to learn how to control and properly use your powers. Given your situation, you don't look like you can project your energy as concussive blasts. If anything, it's similar to Oswald's."

"How so?"

"I'll explain as simply as possible," Oswald began, "As you've seen during the battles I've participated in, I have only been using my powers to transform objects into something else and imbuing my own powers into it right? Yeah, that's kind of how your power looks to me. Do remember this, try thinking of that energy flowing within you as electricity. You may find that at times it may passively travel through other materials or in your case, a person or enemy, and it does hurt them, but it doesn't do much. That's why you'll need a conduit."

"A conduit?"

"Simply put, a weapon, it's so that you can better channel your powers through something and use it to impart great force upon your enemies."

"Wow, you… Know all this stuff?" Lincoln was, quite amazed after hearing Oswald's brief explanation on what kind of energy he possesses and how to use it.

"He's usually the guy we come to when we need explanation on how to deal with various types of powers that we encounter. Though, so far the enemies haven't quite proved their danger. Quite a problem really." Zed said.

"Why is that?"

"In time, you will know." Oswald simply told the boy.

"Yeah, and you know what? I'm getting quite hungry, come on, why don't we all join up with them? Hopefully they haven't finished yet." Zed suggested, ending their conversation.

With that, the three began walking, off to find where exactly the others have went to. Thankfully, Zed could recall which direction they took off and knows how to navigate in places like the mall thus, they finally found where they are. Still waiting on their meals even after the amount of time they'd spend talking. With a greet, Lincoln and the others walked into the place where they are. That place.

Chapter End.

* * *

Hoho, not much of a breather part as it was a mess of exposition.

Anyway, anyhoo, next chapter, coming soon to a website close to you!


	21. Chapter 21 Life's a beach

Chapter 21.

* * *

"Alright, that should be the last thing!" Lincoln huffed as he loaded in the last item into the trunk of Vanzilla.

"Great! Now we're ready to go!" Lori said, getting ready to get in the van and take off. However, they were visited by Zed, who stopped by just outside the driveway.

"Good morning, Louds! So, how's it going?" He greeted them like he usually would.

"It's great! I've just finished loading up the last things we need for our little outing." Lincoln lightly tapped on the side of Vanzilla.

"Mr. Zed, we're very thankful that you really care about us and that you're taking your time with us and even invite us to this." Lori expressed her gratitude, followed by her siblings who all share the same thoughts as her.

"It's alright girls, anything I could do to help ease your minds and hearts. And uh, I would invite some more of your classmates, but I don't think even I can handle that much people in this little posse." He pointed to his side and at the back where Julius and two of Lincoln's friends, who had been with him more frequently lately, were seated at.

"That's okay Mr. Zed, as long as it makes you happy, we'll be happy as well!" Luan chimes in to help brighten the mood even more.

Zed couldn't help but smile at her, at them all. It really does warms his heart that they are happy, and there's nothing better for him than to protect those smiles. If he could.

Then, they all took off for their current destination. Surely, the beautiful water with the sun's light shimmering off of its' surface, the tiny countless pieces of golden particles we call sand and just generally the tone and mood that the beach is known for should be the perfect place for the Loud family and their acquaintances to have a break at, right?

Along the way, the excitement they initially had since they've woken up suddenly disappeared. Everyone fell silent, it wasn't clear for the Louds and Zed's group to actually see, but they knew that they were under the company of nothing but silence. Save for the sound of the engine, and occasionally other cars passing by.

This moment of silence actually gave Zed a sense of dread that he cannot shake off. So, his solution to that was to do what he does best: Talk with the people around him.

"So, after today, have you guys got anything planned? If so, I'd like to hear it so I don't make a schedule that clashes with yours." Zed broke the ice, glancing at his passengers, side, and behind via the rear-view mirror.

"Well, I am planning to finish up Oswald's weapon as soon as possible." Julius simply said as he leans towards the door, holding up his head with his arm. His answer received looks of confusion from the two kids at the backseat.

"…Oswald's what?" Ronnie Anne voiced out their confusion.

"Oh right, you don't really know what I do yet. Yeah, I'm kind of the, nutjob of the group here. I spend my time going off alone to make some weird machines and stuff and a lot of other things that I didn't know was able to build." Julius explains, before adding, "At least, until Zed showed up and becomes a black hole, sucking us all in his adventures."

Zed simply laughed at his statement and continued driving, which prompted a smile on his two other passengers. The Louds on the other hand, were moving just in front of them.

Meanwhile in Vanzilla, her passengers were still silent, it doesn't look like they're about to find a topic to talk about anytime soon.

Lincoln took his time to just gaze outside the windows and think about some things that he may need to be worried about. His eyes kept darting to whatever caught his attention and his mind began to wander off. Without knowing it, his expression too seemed to have turned a bit, somber. Lynn, who was sitting next to him, noticed this.

It seems that Lincoln would find out what his adventures feels like from the perspective of other people.

"Hey Lincoln?"

"Wha-?" Lincoln was finally snapped from his mind and turned to his sporty sister.

"Are you okay? You look like you've got something on your mind, you wanna talk about it?"

"No, no… It's not, something you should be worried about." Lincoln waved away at Lynn's suggestion.

The two went quiet afterwards. Lincoln went back to wallowing in his mind while Lynn sighed at the thought of not being able to help her brother.

Lori, along with the others who had been listening, thought it might be a good time to talk about it. About the recent events. Should be a perfect time now, isn't it? Besides, there is something else they might all need to talk about.

"It's about those creatures isn't it, Lincoln?" Lori asked.

"What? No… That's… Not it…" Lied the buck-toothed boy, however, his sisters know when he does that.

"Please don't lie to us." Lori bluntly responded to Lincoln's lie, which got him quiet, and everyone else has their eyes on him, "And you can start talking, by telling us where exactly you were and what were you thinking when you're getting yourself caught between those things?"

Hearing that had Lincoln at a loss for words, he looked down to search his brain for answers but couldn't find anything.

"Yeah, we were really worried about you, Lincoln." Luan, who was behind him said, "Really, to think that I was to be entertaining troubled patients a couple of days ago, I would've ended up being an emotional wreck if something happened to you! Mr. Zed believed that you'd survive, it was hard, but I chose to believe in that as well."

"I-I…" Lincoln began stuttering.

"Not only did he survive that, but the entire block was devastated!" Lynn exclaimed, though there seemed to be a slight hint of excitement in her voice, "How did you even survive that?"

"And to top it off, you even made a new friend!" Leni said, seeing the positive part of all that, which got the others laughing.

"I know!" Lori said between laughs, "You are one mysterious boy, Lincoln Loud."

"Well, bro, looks like we're not gonna lose you anytime soon." Luna, who was on the other end of the seat he was at, ruffled her younger brother's hair.

"As much as I would've loved to see someone die, I can't have you go first," Lucy said in her usual monotonous voice, before adding with a smile more genuine than Lisa's, "So it's good that you've managed to live through all that. Maybe the spirits too decided that it wasn't your time yet."

"Indeed, it is of great relief that you, are safe despite having the odds against you." Lisa stated, just so she could join in with the others.

"Yeah, just try not to get yourself in trouble again." The twins spoke in unison.

Lincoln, having gotten an insight as to how his sisters feel about what he's been doing all this time, felt like tearing up. He never quite got a chance to talk to his sisters about these recent events due to the fact that he didn't want to get them involved directly in the battles he's in. He smiled and finally said something.

"Thanks, you guys. For showing how much you guys truly care about me, I'm sorry for worrying you all like that."

Then, as if on cue, they had all arrived at the beach. Lori and Zed parked their rides and from there on, everyone else happily got out of their respective vehicles.

"Alright!" Lynn excitedly ran towards the beach with her belongings.

"Come on dudes! Let's have ourselves a beach party!" Luna followed, her hand making the usual rock on gesture.

"Yeah! 'Water' you're waiting for guys!" Luan laughed as she ran off with her sisters.

The other sisters too had ran off to the beach. Clyde and Ronnie Anne decided that they would join in with them as well.

"Well, Lincoln," Zed spoke up as he walked to the boy, "Now that we're here, why don't we have ourselves some fun?"

"If only it was that easy, Zed." Julius, in a rather worried tone, said to the man. His worries were quite rational, they are situated at a place where there are people, in great numbers too. Ever since they started the trip, he had been carrying a bag with him all the time. It was only something that Lincoln noticed, but didn't really seem too noteworthy.

Then, from behind them, the sound of a running motor was heard. It got louder as it got closer to them. The green coloration of the grasshopper-themed bike was the first thing that caught their attention, more so in Lincoln's case. Eventually the person riding it came to a stop right in front of them.

Taking off his helmet, the man reveals himself to be none other than Oswald.

"You had better called me out here for a good reason, Zed." Oswald said to the man who had planned the day for them.

"Ey come on, Ozzy boy, you gotta know when to take it easy."

Oswald groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose before looking back to Zed, "I know this is supposedly for something good, but Zed, I can't risk going out while those bastards start scheming!" He pointed his arms towards the city, frustration audible in his voice.

Zed didn't say anything to that, but he did walk up to Oswald and tapped on his shoulders with a smile that only further agitated the Englishman.

"Fine." Oswald gave in and got off his bike and took out his bag from the back of the bike. He walked to the nearby changing room while mumbling angrily under his breath.

"He's just a big baby once you get to his good side." Zed told Lincoln before he gestures the two to come along with him and get with the day.

Then, all the boys came out, now ready in their beach apparel consisting only of boxers.

Meanwhile, back at the beach, the Loud sisters, including Clyde and Ronnie Anne, were off having fun. Lori, Leni, Luna and Lynn were playing beach volleyball, Luan was off entertaining some children with jokes. The twins were building a sandcastle. Lucy hid under the shade while writing down poems and Lisa was, well, Lisa.

Lynn had accidentally hit a ball hard, and the two eldest Loud siblings failed to catch it. The ball hit hard on the ground and bounced off, in its' way was the twins and their sandcastle. Right before it made contact, a hand caught it and was brought up to the person's face.

"Be careful. Always be aware of how much strength you're putting into these things." Oswald said, his face straight as ever.

"Ah I- I- I'm sorry!" Lynn apologized.

Oswald simply nodded and got into a throwing stance, "Catch." He said before throwing the ball into the air and jumped up to slap it back towards the young athlete. The height of his jump and the force he gave to the ball further cements the fact that he is no longer an ordinary human.

The ball struck Lynn and dazed her. She had a look of confusion due to how hard she was hit and her eyes looked as if they were swirling around. She's seeing stars.

"Or maybe it's me that should've done that. Huh." Oswald said as he walked away.

The other players quickly ran up to their sister who was now mumbling strange things, they shouted her name but Lynn simply shouted more nonsense.

"Nice going Ozz boss." Zed said to the man.

"Is- Is she going to be alright?" Lincoln worriedly asked about Lynn.

"Don't worry, she should be able to come out ok from that. Just a bit weird. Only for a moment at least." Julius tried to calm Lincoln down.

Oswald crouched down near the water and began waving his hand around in it. When he pulled his hand out from it, he let out a sigh that indicates disappointment.

"Anything yet?" Asked Zed.

"Clearly not. But it should be back soon enough."

"What is it?" Lincoln curiously asked them.

"Oswald told me that he once had the ability to manipulate the elements, apparently." Julius explained.

"What?"

"It's just an extension of my ability. Since I can't directly project my powers, as I said before, I can infuse it into other materials which I can then use as conduit for my powers."

"Wow."

Then, Zed found himself clutching hard on his stomach again. Julius felt a sense of dread like Zed had before, Lincoln was looking around, he was clearly alarmed when his belt had alerted him of his surroundings. When the two younger members of the quartet turned to see Oswald, he wasn't there.

In fact, he had already ran off. He felt this strange presence long before any of them and had set out to warn everyone, "Everybody run! Get out of the beach!"

Just as he finished, the entire area was covered in purple smoke.

"Oh bollocks." Was all Oswald could mutter before Hexons came running towards every single person who were lost in the mist.

Lincoln, Julius and Zed split to look for the others and get them to safety.

Oswald had been defending himself and without knowing it, other people from the Hexons. He wrestled with one of them and easily dispatched the small group. He then ran off to look for other people in the mist. He heard the voice of two young girls on one side and was headed there. He knew which of Lincoln's sisters these two were.

"Dang it! Guys! Where are you!" Lana shouted for the others.

"Pipe down Lana! You're gonna attract those things' attention!" Lola told her twin.

From behind them, two Hexons jumped out and were prepared to strike them down using their spine-like staff weapon. Fortunately for them, Oswald too emerged from the smokescreen and held their weapons in place.

"Stay back you two!" Oswald said, grunting as he pushed back the two Hexons and broke their stance by giving one last shove.

He quickly leaped forward and performed a leg sweep on the two. He then picked up one of their weapon and brought down the spherical end of the weapon on the Hexons, knocking them out.

* * *

Clyde and Ronnie Anne were both running from a Hexon before the two came together in a rather problematic situation. They bumped right into each other and fell on the ground, leaving them vulnerable.

Before their pursuers could do anything to them, Julius jumped forward and pushed the two out of the way, risking a hit on his back in the process. Julius quickly recovered and rolled forward to avoid another hit and got up, ready to fight against the two.

* * *

Meanwhile, Zed had miraculously made his way outside the mist and back at the parking lot. He coughed and waved away the smoke and opened his eyes to see that quite a good number of those people had gotten out. But his relief didn't last long as fate had something else for him to do.

He saw a larger group of Hexons running towards the fleeing crowds in the same manner that they usually appear in, from the mist. Before any damage could be done to the people, the Hexons were run down by a police car which stopped right in front of him.

Zed was glad to see a familiar face when the window rolled down, "Oh, Lawrence, thank goodness."

"No time! Get in!" Ordered the officer, Zed obliged by quickly running to the passenger seat at the back and getting in.

"You good with guns?" Asked one of the officers, whom he only knows by his first name.

"I can manage, Corporal Jameson." Zed nodded and was handed out a magnum pistol.

"It's the best we got now, shoot as much as possible!" Lawrence told him, "Alright, Ned, drive!"

With that, the officers, including Zed, drove off. Along the way, Zed managed to blast quite a few Hexons who had all came close to ending the life of the unfortunate people they got to.

"You guys are awfully trusting of me, what's going on?" Zed asked.

"Well it helps when you've apparently rolled with the military before."

"Who told you that?"

"A representative came to our base last week and told us of your history with them. They've also provided us with some improved bullets that should be able to pierce their armors!"

"Oh, they've finally finished it huh? Seriously though, what's going on?"

"We're the only units available left, the others are off to other sections of the city and I know your friends are back there too! So, after a bit of snooping around, we've found the source!"

"Where?"

"The hospital!"

Chapter End.

* * *

There we go, another big event.

A lot of things will escalate from here on now, so you could say we're sorta nearing the 15-22% of the story.

A-nee-wayy, Chapter 22, coming out soon.


	22. Chapter 22 A minor insight

Chapter 22.

* * *

Following shortly after Zed, Lincoln too had found his way out of the purple smokescreen. He looked to his side to see a police car driving off from the scene and from it, the officers inside had started shooting on any Hexons they laid their eyes on.

Lincoln nodded and was just about to go around so he can enter the mist from another side and get to any remaining people, if any. He was however, stopped by something that jumped off from all the way on the hospital roof. It landed hard in front of Lincoln and caused the ground to shake, destabilizing Lincoln's footing.

"Whoa…" Lincoln shakily said as he watched the creature, rise up to its' full height. It was yet another armored Hexon, it had a bulkier physique than the previous one and was donned in a silver armor with purple-colored crystalline parts around the chestplate and braces.

From the sky behind him, a figure clad in a purple armor with a cape that is only several shades darker, descends on the water. He kept himself from sinking using his own powers and began walking towards Lincoln.

"Salutations, Earthling." Greeted the commander, holding out a gloved hand, which differed from the other commanders' who instead had braces.

"Hello…?" Lincoln hesitantly shook the commander's hand.

"…Weak," Said the commander, commenting on Lincoln's grip, "Formalities aside, let's see if you can fight against my right-hand here."

"Alright, let's go!" Lincoln prepares himself by jumping back to initiate his transformation, which he successfully does and assumes a fighting stance to begin the fight.

* * *

Julius ducked under a punch from the Hexon he had disarmed and caused it to punch its' partner and backhanded it on its' knee, causing it to fall on one knee. Julius quickly got back up and kicked it in the head, knocking it out. He was then surprised with a punch to the back of his head and retaliated by swatting away another punch from it and giving it a kick to the guts.

"Alright, let's go." He told the two kids who he had just saved.

"Are you okay, after all that?" Clyde asked.

"Seriously, I don't think even I can survive that!" Ronnie Anne added.

"It hurts, and that's all you need to know." Julius said before he continued to help the two find their way out by moving on as quickly as possible so as to get them out of the mist. Before that, Julius picked his bag back up after he dropped it when he came to save the two.

The two managed to get at least a few steps further from where they were ambushed before yet another group of Hexons intercepted the three of them.

"Alright guys, don't freak out when I say this, but we're actually in the very things that creates these things." Julius said, keeping his composure when they were getting surrounded.

"What!?" Clyde exclaimed in a panicked tone.

"That's why when I say 'go', you go, okay?"

"Wait, wait, wait, what about you?" Clyde asked, worried about Julius.

"Don't worry about me, I'm not gonna leave you guys," He said with a fake smile, trying to give confidence in the kids to trust him, "Guess I'll have to whip this thing out then."

Just as he said that, a Hexon swung its' weapon towards Julius, who blocked it with his bag. The bag was surprisingly durable, or rather, what's inside it. After pushing the Hexon away, Julius quickly unzips the bag and pulls out what seems to be a miniature spear around 3 feet in length. On one end of the double-bladed spear was a strange pulling lever and between the two blades was a button that is currently of unknown function.

Julius dropped the bag on the ground and prepares to attack with the weapon by his side.

"Ready?"

"Wait…"

"Go!" Julius shouted, jumping forward to strike first on the Hexons. He fended off the Hexons pretty well by himself and before they knew it, Ronnie Anne and Clyde had an exit to go through.

The pair glanced behind them for a bit to see Julius struggling to shake off the Hexons that had latched themselves onto him. They couldn't really do anything about it even if they wanted so badly to help, so they kept running, until they found themselves out on the parking lot.

Clyde suggested that they hide behind some of the cars and quickly made their way to where the cars are more densely packed.

"Alright, I think we're safe now." Clyde said as he tried to catch his breath before turning his head to see an angry Ronnie Anne.

Before he could say anything, the Santiago girl began shouting angrily, "Damn it! Where is Lincoln!? He's always lost when things start getting bad."

"Well, maybe he's found his way out, who knows?"

"Who knows? Listen Clyde, I don't know if you can even begin to think but in what mindset do you think Lincoln will survive all this? All those other times? Coincidences! They are mere coincidences in which those other guys found him, or just straight up luck!"

"Ronnie Anne, stop! I know you're worried about him, I am too! But this is not how you're supposed to do that! I know for once that Lincoln doesn't just give up easily when things look bleak for him!" Clyde retorted in a tone that the girl didn't know he had in him.

"Clyde… I…"

"But you know what? It's alright, like I said, Lincoln is going to be alright!" Clyde continues to assure Ronnie Anne that their friend is going to make it through all this.

Just as the two reconciled, they heard footsteps not far from their location. The pair kept quiet as they quietly sneaked around to see who, or what, those footsteps belong to. They began to feel tense when it became increasingly less audible and in less frequency.

"Hey? You two?"

The sound of Julius' voice made the two happy enough to just come running towards him. When they saw him, he had all sorts of injuries. His blood had dirtied up his clothes, and so has the sand. One of his eyes was bruised and his left cheek was swollen. They could see that he was okay at least, judging from how straight his posture is and how well he is still holding his weapon. He also had his bag in his left hand.

"Julius! Thank goodness you're safe!" Said the young McBride boy.

Julius could only smile before the last of his energy he had used to keep himself from looking like a battered punching bag faded, causing him to fall to his knees with a grunt.

"Oh my gosh! Are you okay? Uhh, Julius?" Ronnie Anne crouched next to the teen.

"I'm fine, I just need to… Rest for a bit." Julius said as he forced himself to move and lean on the side of a nearby car.

"Dude, you're badly hurt, you sure you're gonna continue on like this? I've had quite a lot of damage before, but I know when someone looks like a fish out of water."

"…What do you guys think of Oswald?"

"What?" Clyde quirked an eyebrow.

"Just tell me."

"You mean that one guy who's always serious?" Asked Ronnie Anne, receiving only a nod, "He's… okay, I think? Why?"

"I just want you to know, that no matter how harsh he acts, he's only putting on a facade with it. Know what? Let me tell you something…"

"Okay, but make it quick, you're gonna talk yourself to death like this."

"I'm… Actually from another world… Earth, but not of this space-time…"

"Huh? Wait, what are you talking about?"

"I've been doing this since I was… What, 12 years old? Being able to make all these things were what led me to many victories on multiple attacks back in my world, my universe. After quite a while, I was finally met with one of the commanders, and I got my hindquarters handed to myself. At that time, I was 14. He offered me two choices, fight till the last drop of my blood, or leave that universe forever if I want my family and everyone I've ever known to live."

"…What…?" Clyde was confused, not just at how bizarre Julius' story was, but also on how to feel about it.

"I… did the latter, of course. I was given a device that allows me to traverse to any universe except my own. For only a year since I've started traveling, I was already broken down. That was… When I met them… When Zed and Oswald… Welcomed me into their team."

"….So you're saying… that Mr. Abe…. is from another universe?" Clyde made a short recap on what Julius had just told them, and the teen simply laughed.

"Oh man, that did sound bizarre when hearing it from someone else… But yes…" Julius' expression began to soften, "Maybe… Just maybe, that the commander from that time didn't want to take my life… As if he too had lost something… And knows what it felt like."

"I don't know how to feel about all this. On one hand, I kinda feel like laughing at how stupid it sounded, but on the other, I have this feeling that you're telling the truth." Ronnie Anne looked hard into Julius' eyes after saying that, to see if they would tell her anything.

"You know, when you've seen a lot, you learn how to hide yourself better than most people," Smiled the teen before getting up, "So, in order to prove one thing from my story… Also, keep this a secret between us, okay?"

"What?" Said the two in unison.

"This."

Pulling out his device from the bag, he now only presses one button and points it skywards. Moments later, he was fully armored and completed it by sliding the device into the slot in his chest where the second layer of his chestplate materializes on.

Clyde and Ronnie Anne watched as Julius simply gave them a thumbs up before running off to join Lincoln, who was beginning to struggle against the armored Hexon. He then brought up his spear and pointed it forward, he used a chopping motion with his free hand to hit the button, extending the spear opposite to the switch.

That's another person Clyde needed to keep a secret from everyone else. Except this time, he shares it with Ronnie Anne instead of Lisa. Without the latter's knowledge however, was that Lincoln already knew about Julius.

Chapter Ends.

* * *

There goes another chapter. Hopefully it wasn't too weird.

Next chapter will be focusing on Oswald.

Speaking of next chapter, 23 will be out next week.


	23. Chapter 23 The Unwatchful Guardian

Chapter 23.

* * *

Despite being under the supervision of Oswald, a more experienced fighter than Julius and Lincoln, the twins still found themselves running around to save themselves from the bodies that Oswald kept throwing around once he was done beating it down.

"Watch out!" Lana warned her twin, Lola, who jumped out of the way of one thanks to her.

"Lana!"

The aforementioned twin sister of the pageant queen looked to her side before ducking to avoid getting hit by yet another Hexon.

"Geez, it's like he wants to hit us!" Lana growled.

Though, it became quiet just as the young mechanic said that. They felt that it was too quiet and slowly walked closer to where Oswald had went off to engage against the Hexon group. There, they found him on one knee. His left arm had one of the spine staff locked in his armpit and his right hand was just barely holding off the sharp end of another one of the staff from stabbing him in the face by letting it penetrate through the palm of his outstretched arm, which scraped off a small chunk of his forearm in the process.

Once the twins registered all of that, a gasp from them was the only thing that was needed before the combatants started moving again.

Oswald quickly retracted his right arm after the Hexon pulled its' staff out of his hand and got back up to spin the Hexon he has locked with him using its' own staff as torque and hit its' own partner with it. His move caused the Hexon to become disoriented and allowed him to take its' weapon away and used it to mercilessly beat down the two that had put him in a rather troublesome situation.

After easing himself up by a bit, Oswald looked at his damaged hand and clenched it.

"Does it hurt?" Lola spoke up first, prompting Oswald to look at her not with a serious expression but rather, his usual nigh-emotionless one.

"You'll start to ignore the pain once you've gotten it quite a lot of times." He said in a careless tone.

"R-really?"

"It's okay now, see?" Oswald showed his hand to the twins, revealing to them that it had been healed, much to the twins' surprise.

"What?" Lola squeaked when she saw that Oswald's fully healed hand.

"Whoa, that was gross, and cool!" Lana looked in awe.

"You don't want to see more." Oswald said before holding out his hands after dropping the weapon, "Come on now, we need to get you guys back to your sisters."

* * *

Moments prior, the Loud sisters had gotten out of the mist as well. They had been focusing on one path only when the attack first started.

One by one, they escaped the clutches of the Hexons, quite literally, given the nature of the mist. They all breathed a sigh of relief and tried to catch their breath before they noticed something was wrong.

"Wait a minute," Lori began, "Where are Lola and Lana?"

The other sisters were then starting to panic when they found out two of their youngest members had been separated from them and they didn't even realize it.

"Wait here, I'll go find them!" Luna offered to find the two and ran back into the purple mist.

"No, Luna wait!"

"Whoa, don't go!"

Were what Lori and Lynn managed to say before their rocker sister were lost in the mist again.

"What are we going to do now?" Leni asked, looking at Luan.

"I don't know… She's just too, 'mist'-ifying… That didn't feel good…" Luan tried to joke but simply felt even more down when she realized how unfitting that joke was to the situation.

* * *

"Lola! Lana! Where are you!?" Luna shouted, waiting for any response from her twin sisters.

She then kept walking forwards, hoping that she would not find any Hexons along the way and hopefully see her two younger sisters safe and sound.

After a few moments of walking silently and not finding anything or anyone, she heard a commotion from another side of the mist. She froze up in place due to the constant sounds of screaming and grunts. Those screams sounded familiar to her…

The twins screamed in terror as the Hexons continues their beatdown on Oswald. It didn't even take long before more Hexons have begun forming and set them as their target. Oswald made himself into a meat shield so he could cover them and wait for the right time to strike again.

"Mister! Are you okay?" Worriedly asked the twins.

"Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. Problem is how to get you guys out of this so I can get back at these guys!"

Oswald then began to see a way he could bring the two out of their current situation and fight back. He got up when the Hexons brought down their weapons and blocked all of them, he then kicked the twins out of the circle of Hexons and pushed away the Hexons' weapons. The twins landed with a small grunt and were greeted with Luna who had just found her courage to go towards them.

"Lola! Lana!" Luna happily ran up to the two and hugged them.

"Luna!" The twins too embraced their older sister.

"Come on, let's go!" Luna got back up and was about to lead the two out of the mist.

"No!" Lana said before pausing, "I mean… What about Oswald?"

Luna glanced back at the man who was violently fending off the small swarm of Hexons.

Oswald kicked away a good number of Hexons before blocking against a strike from one behind him. He then slapped away the weapon from its' hand and kicked it in the head. Following shortly after that, was a series of perfectly executed kicks on the remaining Hexons.

Luna and the twins watched as Oswald easily reduce the number of Hexons down to zero in a matter of seconds after his frenzied kicking spree. Once he finished, he only stood there, unmoving. The man in front of them simply looked down on the ground and tried to stabilize his breathing patterns.

Thinking that all was okay, the trio ran up to Oswald, who unfortunately, was yet to fully recover from his anger that had been built up throughout his one-sided fight. What followed next was not him turning to them and showing relief accompanied with his usual serious face, but instead, an aggressive turn after picking up one of the weapon and pushing the pointed end towards Luna's face.

He does thankfully stop just mere centimeters from Luna's face. Nevertheless, his face still showed hostility and his eyes were filled with bloodlust.

Seeing the rocker's horrified expression at his reaction snapped Oswald out of his current state. He pulled away the weapon and straightened himself out, shaking his head and smacking it a bit before throwing away the spear-mace hybrid of sort.

"I- I'm sorry, I wasn't quite in control." He groaned while slapping himself in the face a few times.

"What was that!?" Luna shakily asked him.

"Nothing, it's just that…" Oswald tried to explain, but seeing the twins having nearly been reduced to tears changed his mind, "Nevermind, let's get out of here!"

When the twins looked back to see that Oswald was back to normal, they were sort of relieved, and were just about to run back to him to ask if he's okay. But Luna wasn't too approving of that idea as she held her two younger sisters tightly.

"Luna? What is it?" Asked Lana.

"No-Nothing…" The rocker girl said before letting her sisters go and gulped down her fears.

"Anyway, come on now." Oswald told them before he began walking the opposite direction he presumed where Luna came from.

The three Loud sisters silently followed Oswald closely behind as he led them out of the mist. They were ambushed by a few more Hexons along the way, nothing Oswald couldn't take care of. Though, he seemed a bit more restrained when he subdued the creatures.

Outside, the other Loud sisters anxiously waited for their three sisters to come back to them safely. Lori paid no mind to her nails as she bit them in distress, Leni simply watched on worriedly while sitting on the pavement, waiting for any events to unfold. Luan sat next to Leni as they worriedly waited for Luna's return. Lynn paced around with great unease, Lucy stood still with Lily in her embrace. Lisa however, had been off, spying on her brother's fight.

" _Lincoln, you better not run out of luck just yet._ " Lisa thought to herself.

They were then alerted by a gasp from Leni, who saw the silhouettes of their sisters. Shortly after, Luna and the twins walked out from the purple mist and were greeted with a big family hug.

After being released from the deathly hug, Luna turned around to look at Oswald who was silently standing in the mist. Oswald gave her a nod before he started to walk, away from them.

"Wait…" Luna said, attracting the attention of her sisters as well, "I think we should at least thank you for helping us."

Oswald stopped, but did not walk out of the mist. Instead, he only turned his head so that he was looking at them. He kept quiet for a bit longer, before walking away again.

"It's the least we can do! Be thankful that I want to show my gratitude for your help!" Luna began to feel angry at him for how he is acting, she just doesn't understand the man, and that's why she's frustrated.

"Listen, helping you guys is more than enough for me. If you want to thank me, do it now," Oswald said to Luna, "Besides, you don't know me well enough yet."

"That's exactly why we want to give you a more personal appreciation! All this time, you've been too quiet, and it just doesn't fit us! It's like you have a natural repellent aura with you!"

Oswald was rather surprised at her, a brief moment when the mist cleared off enough for his face to show let them know that too. Then, he slowly walked out of it and crossed his arms.

"You guys really want to know more about me? Fine, if you really want to be that tenacious," Oswald said and gestured the siblings to get on with it, "Right then, be on with it."

"Right! First off, I, Luna Loud, would like to thank you very much for keeping our sisters safe while we were incapable of doing so!"

"Hm," Oswald scoffed, "I suppose that will do it."

He then begins to walk away from the group and waved them goodbye.

"We will meet again sometime. Hopefully we get to have better interactions at that time, something to justify your frustration today." Oswald confidently stated before he stopped and engulfed in a bright sphere of green light.

When the sphere disappeared, he was revealed to be in his armored form. He turned to look at the Loud sisters one last time before walking off several steps forward where he is then met by the commander leading the attack.

"Greetings, Earth-"

"Enough of your nonsense."

The commander then scoffed, raising his head to the point where he was looking down on Oswald, "Very well then. I am Tentavros, unlike the previous two commanders, I shall be a more worthy opponent for you," Laughed the commander before he added, "Of course, as you are right now, you won't be able to last as long as you did with the others when you're fighting me."

"Watch me." Oswald said in a much more serious tone than usual.

The two then threw a punch that blew away the nearby mist that was presumably created by Tentavros and replaced it with clouds of dust and sand.

Chapter End.

* * *

Alright, a bit weird, but I'll work it out.

Next chapter will be focusing on Zed and the cops' shenanigans so stay tuned for the next chapter.


	24. Chapter 24 An Em'err'gency

Chapter 24.

* * *

"Come on! Go faster!" Zed shouted at officer Ned, who was doing his best to maneuver through the Hexon-filled streets. Zed, Corporal Jameson, and Lawrence helped in shooting down any Hexons in sight.

Zed had been increasingly worried as time went on, Lawrence's info on where the main source of the Hexon swarm in the city was from was the source of his worries. He should have expected this, but didn't. All because he was too caught up in trying to help ease the Loud family. So much for all that.

Their driver then decided to just floor it, running over any Hexons in the way to make haste since they have units stationed at the hospital as well, and they don't look like they'll make it out alive if Zed doesn't get there as soon as possible.

Just as the hospital came into their sight, a Hexon that had been following them was just about to catch up. It then raised its' spear up to its' head and chucked it as hard as possible. It struck the the cruiser's tire and popped it, also causing Ned to lose control of it when the spear underneath slightly elevated and caused the car to flip over and rolled its' way to the entrance, forcing the officers who have barricaded themselves to fall back.

The car stopped when it hit the entrance. A few more officers came to drag away the bodies but found that the people inside have miraculously survived the crash, with the exception of Zed, who was still conscious even after receiving a deadly blow when the car flipped.

"Augh… Wait," Zed looked around before he corrected his position and crawled out of the window to look outside and saw waves of Hexons rushing in like floodwater, "Get… Get the others out of there, quick!" He ordered the other officers in a panicked tone.

He pointed his gun and pulled the trigger, only to find out he's run out of ammunition. Just great. He threw the gun as hard as he could on the large swarm. He then followed the officers towards the staircase and began his ascension.

They got up a few floors from the lobby and brought out as much heavy furniture as possible to hopelessly barricade the stairwell. While the other officers have begun restocking on ammunition, Zed went off to secure other places where the Hexons may be able to get in from. Accompanying him were two other officers who took up their incapacitated comrades' stead on their own accords.

They first checked up on elevators, some of which had been pried open, indicating breach from a previous wave of Hexons. The broken ones had been completely torn apart from inside and the walls around it had marks that suggests they may have used their weapons to climb up.

"What now?" One of the officers spoke up.

"We'll try to block these paths off for as long as possible and station several officers around these sections and well, I'll come and check in every now and then," Zed suggested before asking, "Do you have any welding tools?"

* * *

After acquiring the desired tool from one of the people who were trapped in, Zed began to work on welding the elevator doors shut so it would not be pried open easily. He then had people move in more available stuff to block it off so as to delay the Hexons' coming.

"Alright, we need to move the patients all the way up and make sure they are on the helipad. I'll find a way to destroy the thing creating all these Hexons." Zed instructed the officers on their next move.

"What if they break in?"

"Well, hopefully we can fend them off for as long as possible." Zed simply said.

Then, evacuations began and Zed stayed behind along with several backup officers as he watched over the nearest barricaded exit from where the people are. As safety measures, Zed asks that he gets a good supply of grenades and weapons which he hid all around the the rooms from theirs to a couple of floors below.

Meanwhile, in the middle of a large crowd, Principal Huggins and his fellow teachers slowly made their way to a backup stairwell that Zed claims to be far enough from the Hexons for them to actually notice.

The middle-aged man sighed, hoping that Zed is able to pull this off.

Then, the silence made sense, the Hexons had seemingly not made any move because they had instead chose to scale the buildings. One of them broke the wall where the emergency stairwell was at and jumped in.

The startled people screamed in shock and terror when one of the Hexons had made its' way to their location. Several officers opened fire out of reflex, all had fortunately hit its' mark with every shots fired and put down the Hexon.

Unfortunately for the officers at the back most of the line, their lives were claimed by a few more Hexons who had just managed to breach through and gives signal to all of them that they are no longer safe.

One officer who had went off to scout ahead on the evacuation group came back running hastily to his group and tried to explain the situation between heavy breaths.

"They… They've uh… The Hexons are here!" He told them while still trying to catch his breath.

As if that wasn't enough, the barricades they've set up were then easily broken through, just as Zed feared.

He grabbed large pieces of the broken blockades and threw it at the group of Hexons, giving enough time for the officers to make their way with the others. However, one of them stopped to ask Zed something that bugged him.

"Why didn't you do that earlier?"

"Just saving strength, now go!" Zed answered simply and tells the officer to go.

Once the officer left the scene, Zed stood alone as the Hexons clumsily got back on their feet. Zed felt a bead of sweat run down the side of his face. Forcing a smile, he quickly runs towards the stairs and destroyed it up to several steps to at least slow down their enemies. After he did that, he narrowly jumped away from an attack by a Hexon.

The risk-taking youth continues to make his way through every rooms he passes just to get the Hexons as far away from him as possible, all while keeping them in check so that none of them turns back to get to the staircase. With every little dead end he meets, he punches a hole that is small enough for him to then quickly crawl under and give him a head start as the Hexons foolishly attempted to replicate his actions while others knocked down the walls, causing it to crumble down on them.

* * *

Despite having reduced as much as he can from the total number of Hexons that were chasing him via wits, he knew he would eventually have to get a bit more physical and directly engage them in combat. Thankfully, there are many ways he can improvise.

He's managed to make his way to the lower levels since the Hexons came bursting through to the floor he initially was in great quantity. His quick thinking and good memory of the building's layouts proved to be a great help for him and led him to a good hiding spot in a random closet. Of course.

During his run, he has managed to get his hands on a good number of hospital items that should prove useful. He tries to plan his way through with great precision so as to not drive himself to a more literal dead end.

Using cleaning agents as a way to reduce friction on the floor, Zed begins to lure the closest Hexons in his vicinity and jumped over his trap, which did not register to the more animalistic creatures and as a result, they lost balance and were quickly sent sliding into a room where Zed had thrown a couple of grenades in when he made his jump.

The grenades then exploded, killing quite a decent amount of Hexons at the cost of the room itself.

Zed continued running around the floor he is currently at, trying to look for more equipment to use and also keeping himself away from his enemies for the time being. He spotted a few more usable things when he entered a few more rooms and thus, more plans were made.

"Oh man, I'm not made for doing these kinds of stuff," Zed quietly muttered to himself as he punched in holes into a tray and placed syringes into it, "Maybe if Oswald or Julius was here, maybe I could offer help when they've got a plan."

After he finished melting the syringes so it would stick into the tray, he then looked behind him where he's prepared a few more items consisting of, a makeshift molotov, an acidic solution he's made with what little knowledge Julius gave him, and a gas canister strapped to a wheelchair among some others he hasn't used yet.

"Alright, this should do it." He nodded and got up to execute his plans. But first, he needed to check back on the stairs.

Since there were less Hexons on the floor he was currently at, he was able to sneak past them without attracting much attention. He brought along some of his molotovs just in case he finds any use for them.

If there is anything else he's learned about the Hexons, it's that they seem to be relying mostly on their sight despite having greatly enhanced senses. Not that he isn't grateful that they're basically idiots.

He quickly walked into one of the rooms while crouched and leaned out through one of the holes he punched in to see the path leading to the staircase is still very much crowed with a truckload of Hexons who all tried climbing up the walls now that the stairs are out.

"Okay, let's find out if you guys are flame-resistant or not." Zed whispered as he lit up the oil-soaked piece of cloth that is the fuse.

He took a deep breath and exhaled before getting up and out of the room to throw the homemade incendiary grenade and shot it mid-air using a gun given by one of the officers. Once he made the shot, the bottle exploded, sending down a rain of flames on the Hexons within the area of effect.

Not surprisingly, they didn't seem to be too bothered by the heat. Instead, it just nearly gave his location away when one of them scanned the area. He moved back into the room and tried to look for other ways he can get rid of them.

"I suppose I can try the wheelchair, but how exactly am I going to utilize that?" He scratched his head, confused as to how he even came up with the idea of strapping a gas canister to a wheelchair.

An idea did hit him and he made his way back downstairs to make the plan.

Of course, with such a simple idea, he could imagine it more vividly and thus, finish up his new "trap" as quickly as possible.

While the Hexons were busy trying to climb up the walls and occasionally fall after making some wrong steps, Zed snuck up behind one of them and blasted it in the face using a shotgun that the officers gave him. He then just barely avoided an attack from one of them and ran away after provoking them. He threw and blew up another bottle of molotov to slow them down so he can make his escape and continue on the next step of his plan.

He got to the floor he had the trap set up in and slid under a small hole he made. Thankfully, the Hexons all stopped and simply looked around. The room had been filled with several gas canisters.

Zed again slowly got out of the room he was in and began pushing one of his modified wheelchair. He went the other way of the corridor and around to see some more Hexons who haven't gotten into the room yet. Mustering his strength, he ran forward with all his might and swept some of them using the leg rest and have a couple more of them piled up on some oil-filled bottles on the seat. He then let go of the wheelchair just as he neared the door, leaving the Hexons aboard on a crash course with their brethren.

Zed figured that the room should now be filled with gas since he had taken the seal off the canisters when he had them prepared. He then pulled out his lighter and sparked up a small flame. With a grin, he tossed the lighter into the room and backed off at the last second to prevent himself from getting caught in the explosion that destroyed the room and shook up the building.

"Woo! The doctor is out." Zed said confidently before going off to find an item he's prepared just in case he would need to join up with the officers on the rooftop.

He then came back with a bag to the now cleared off part where he split up with the officers earlier. Digging through the bag, he pulled out a rolled-up ladder and a police radio.

"Come in, Officer Lombard, this is Zed! I need you to get to the stairs! Come in, officer!" He fruitlessly tried making contact with the officer who handed him the radio.

Back at the rooftop, the officers have engaged in combat against numerous Hexons that have been climbing up the hospital and made their way all the way to the rooftop. That, coupled with the others who have already arrived from the walls around the stairs made it hard for them to try and focus on something else other than to eliminate hostiles and ensuring the patients and hospital staffs' safety.

Chapter End.

* * *

There, we, go!

Sorry if the chapters felt a bit too weird. I had a different plan for the chapter's progression but I suppose changes are inevitable.

With that said, Chapter 25 will be coming soon.


	25. Chapter 25 Getting Closer

Chapter 25.

* * *

"Keep going! We can't let these things get up here!" An officer ordered the others, firing at a group of Hexons that were trying to climb up.

The improved bullets have been helpful at least, many of them were easily pushed back with a couple of shots and can be downed with a shot to the inner rings around their face. But they've only got so much left of them, and the number of Hexons coming up to their place is just terrifying.

They managed to close the gap that had separated the group into two and have since stationed themselves around every openings and edges. Some had been injured, but thanks to their quick thinking, they managed to keep them minimal at best.

The large group had moved to the helipad at least. Not far from it was a small building that had radio equipment, allowing some of the officers to request for back-up. Stashed in said building too, were more bullets. Regular ones, unfortunately. They could only hope that the time will not come where they will have to rely on those.

However, they were still very much vulnerable to other spots where the Hexons may come from, and that was right beneath their feet. In a moment, half a dozen of them jumped through the floor and began attacking the officers they've taken by surprise. They were taken care of quickly, but that only means that they should now be much more aware of their surroundings.

[]

Meanwhile at the battlefield, Lincoln and Julius jumped and ran around their opponent in order to evade its' attacks.

"Whoa!" Lincoln exclaimed as he rolled away from the way of a blast that hit the water behind and caused an explosion with a diameter many times larger than the distance between the two. The water that were blasted from the sea rained down on Lincoln as he stood on the opposite end from the Armored Hexon.

"Lincoln, keep moving!" Julius warned Lincoln, which he quickly started doing.

Julius took this opportunity to try and get close to the purple Armored Hexon and struck it hard with his spear. It managed to hurt it and made a scratch on its' armor. He was however, thrown back with a backhand strike and landed hard on the ground. He managed to get up, take the spear and jumped out of the way of an incoming blast. He didn't get far before he was thrown away from the resulting explosion.

"Julius!" Lincoln tried to run to the teen before he was intercepted by their opponent.

He was taken by surprise and took a hard punch to the head which sent him tumbling backwards. The Armored Hexon however, wasn't finished yet, and continued to throw in several quick punches on Lincoln.

Julius recovered from the blast and ran up towards the Hexon and struck it again, only this time, he is met with a punch from the now furious Hexon. He was knocked back and would have gotten himself caught in a beating if he hadn't blocked the first attack and pushed back his opponent.

This gave some time for Lincoln to conjure up his buzzsaw disc and jumped on the Hexon's back and began slicing away at its' armor, which did little damage and could only chip it little by little.

Lincoln was shaken off the Hexon shortly after, and Julius kept the momentum by going in for another hit on its' armor. Following Julius' attack, Lincoln rushed back in to follow-up on the attack by throwing an energy-infused punch on the Hexon's head.

The two continued on with their attacks, not letting the Armored Hexon get any time to catch its' breath. They relentlessly unleashed a series of onslaught which kept their opponent from being able to properly find its' targets and retaliate.

However, much like the previous Armored Hexon, it still had more tricks up its' sleeves. It stopped trying to reorient itself, it instead brought its' arms together in a cross and waited until both Julius and Lincoln to jump onto him. When the time was perfect for it, it charged its arm with energy and spread them outwards, releasing a powerful omni-directional burst of purple energy that sent the two young fighters flying away.

The duo grunted as they hit the ground.

"Whoa, what- What was that!?" Lincoln asked, confusion and irritation audible in his voice.

"Uh-oh…" Was all Julius could reply with.

"What!? What does that mean!?" Lincoln looked at Julius, who only stared as the Armored Hexon walked closer to them.

"Listen to me, Lincoln," Julius said as he got up and began backing away from the Hexon.

"W-What?" The boy stuttered, slowly getting back on his feet.

"I'm going to start tanking its' attacks," Julius began, before interrupting Lincoln, "Now, now, I'll try holding off its' blasts until it depletes itself. Then, you'll go all out. Take this, it'll amplify your attacks."

Using his free hand, he pulled off the back piece of his armor which looks like a circular mirror which then began materializing what seems like the half of a yin-yang symbol. Of course, more machine-like in appearance.

Without hesitation, Lincoln grabbed the item as Julius reattached the object back on his armor. The boy glanced at Julius and the new weapon for a while before he put it on his right arm. The "head" covered his fist while the "tail" was firmly attached to the side of his forearm.

"Right, now all we need to-" Julius didn't even get to finish his sentence before he was punched away several meters from where he stood.

Naturally, Lincoln responded by throwing a punch at the Hexon in retaliation. He saw that although he did damage the creature, he had instead punched with his left fist. He also turned to look back as the Hexon recovered from his attack and rushed forward. Lincoln crouched to defend himself, foolishly forgetting that he has a shield. Not that it was necessary as the Hexon never got to him.

Lincoln opened his eyes, only to be greeted with a peculiar sight, the Armored Hexon was moving in a rather erratic manner. He slowly moved his head upwards to see that the creature's head had Julius' spear stuck on the side. It's a miracle it didn't die, not the kind of miracle that they would like, however. He looked to his side and saw Julius, still in throwing position, before he corrected his stance.

Seeing that Julius was fine, he too got up and watched as the the Hexon forcefully pulled out the spear embedded on the side of its head and threw it. Julius joined up with Lincoln shortly after picking up his spear.

"Here, let me just put the code real quick." Julius said as he did what he said.

Lincoln then felt his entire right arm surge with energy, which he watched in amazement. He felt confident in finishing up the fight as the weapon finished charging him up.

"Behold, the Knuckler, as I'd rather call it," Julius looked at Lincoln while pointing at the weapon, "And it looks like we can also put that plan on halt. The Lancer seemed to do quite a good job."

"Right! Let's go!" Lincoln shouted as the duo rushed forward and began attacking the dazed Hexon.

Not too far from their location were the two kids Julius helped, Clyde and Ronnie Anne. They watched as both Julius and Lincoln-whom, Ronnie Anne doesn't know of yet-continue to pummel the Hexon.

[]

Back at the Hospital however, things weren't going as smoothly for the adults as it was for the kids. The bullets were running out, the Hexon swarms have found another path where some of the bystanders consisting of patients, visitors and hospital staffs have nearly fell into. Some of the officers who risked their lives to save those people have unfortunately fell victim and were dragged to the lower floors.

The officers began falling back as the horde of Hexons continue to flood the stairway. Things looked bleak, it's only a matter of time before they actually manage to get past the door. Which, judging from the situation, they did, mere moments after the last nearest officer backed away from the doorway.

Even after Lawrence and the other three have woken up, they couldn't do much against that such overwhelming number of Hexons.

Principal Huggins could only hope for the best for the officers as they desperately pushed on, fighting a seemingly hopeless battle. Then, both he and Mrs. Shrinivas were sent falling down to a floor beneath them.

Apparently the Hexons have grown more and more restless in getting their hands on the civilians. So, the ones that were climbing had made their way just under the civilians and threw some rubble on the ceiling, causing it to collapse.

However, before it could even get its' hands on the two, Zed quickly smacked it away with a steel chair and made a risky move by trying to catch the two unfortunate people using one hand per person. Thankfully, he managed to pull it off by successfully catching them on their back with only his forearms. He did however messed up by losing balance and falling on his own back.

At least his fellow teachers were safe and suffered only minimal injuries.

The principal quickly got up and held his head, before looking around to see Zed hissing from the pain of having to support and cushioning their falls.

"Mr. Abraham!" Called the middle-aged man out.

"Yeah?" Replied Zed, opening one eye to look at Huggins.

Hearing his reply, Huggins breathed a sigh of relief and helped him and Shrinivas get up.

"Are you okay, after doing that?"

"We're alive aren't we?" Zed smiled, before looking around to see if there was anything he could use to fight his way through the Hexon swarms.

"Okay, seeing that there is no other way up for you two, and I can't really jump high enough to get there anyway… I'm going back up there and see if I can get this ladder set up for you to use." He said, pointing at the rolled up ladder wrapped over his shoulder, which the two didn't notice until he pointed it out.

"Are you going to be okay?" Huggins asked him, clearly worried for the young man's life.

"It's okay, I'll just try to climb back up the stairway and get this ladder ready. Of course, Imma have to check up down here again to see if it's safe enough since…" Zed only whistled at the end of his sentence, which his co-worker and "boss" understood, "Now hide."

After he said that, the conversation was over, the two went off to find a hiding spot while Zed went back to the staircase which he had destroyed not long before. It didn't help that his energy was about to run out since after getting no response, he was ambushed by more Hexons and had to fight his way out of that. Of course, he didn't finish off all of them by himself. Well, couldn't.

He then began wrapping a long chain around a rock and tightened it as much as he could with an extra layer using a towel. Might as well use what he has. He then threw the rock as hard as he could towards a railing which he actually managed to get the rock grapple tie around with, letting the man rest easy.

Before he continued on his way, he quickly went off and grabbed the bag where he filled the most needed supplies for the officers upstairs. He threw the bag on the same stairwell as the makeshift grappling hook and then jumped forward to hang on the chain.

With that, he made his way up as cautiously as possible so as to not undo the wrapping. However, such poorly made items weren't going to last long, so, when the towel started to unravel, he started panicking and quickly inched his way up and jumped to hang onto the railing just as the towel unwrapped, followed by the chain.

He groaned as he watched the two items fall down and continued on with his current task. He climbed up the railing and fell to the other side to catch his breath before getting back up and unzipped the bag next to him to pull out a nightstick.

After zipping up the bag, he got up and began setting up the ladder before he made his way to the rooftop with the bag and nightstick in his hands.

Chapter End.

* * *

Ugh, that was Chapter 25.

Anyway, Chapter 26 will be out soon.


	26. Chapter 26 High Risks

Chapter 26.

* * *

"Oh God, it's no use!" One officer hopelessly shouted as he ceased fire.

Though, looking at how everything seems to be, nobody can really blame him. The Hexons have successfully reached the rooftop and are flooding it as the officers continue to exhaust the last of their improvised bullets. Some had already resorted to using the old bullets and fired on as they slowly chip away at the Hexons' armor.

"No! Don't give up just yet! We can still… We can still….!" The commanding officer began trailing off as he too nearly finds it impossible to go on.

"Keep going! It's only a matter of time before help arrives. But for now, we gotta keep faith on ourselves!" Lawrence shouted, using only a handgun to fend off the swarm as his left arm was broken.

Just then, loud, pained shrieks were heard from the back of the Hexon swarms. The ones at the front of them all simply stopped and looked back as the shrieking only got louder and louder. To top it off, a yell could be heard.

"…It can't be…" Officer Lombard quietly said, trying to put two and two together, "Zed?!"

At the back, Zed continued to fight off the Hexons, only pushing them as far as possible so he can save energy and get to those officers.

He managed to get within shouting range and raised his hand before going back to fight off the Hexons.

"Hey!" He shouted, "Here! I've got something for y'all!"

As soon as he said that, he had thrown the bag towards the officers where two of them caught it. They dug into it and found the remaining boxes of the improvised bullets and quickly refilled on ammunition.

With the supplier having arrived and placed himself in a rather difficult position, the officers thought that they should at least repay him. By raining down on the Hexons with bullets that not only hurt them, but also packed enough power to kill them.

Mere moments after the officers got back into the action, Zed found it easy to get to them, and did so. He fell to his knees and tried to catch his breath after getting behind them.

"Haha! Thanks, you guys!" He said between heavy breaths.

"Right back at ya!" Lawrence replied to him.

"Alright! Where is it?" He asked as he got up, referring to the source of the mist.

"Over there!" Lawrence pointed to the signal tower above the building they were in where, at the base, was a purple glowing orb that was spreading the purple clouds all around the city.

"Right! Cover me!" Zed finished up and rushed forward with the nightstick held tightly in his hands.

[]

While all that was going on, Oswald and Tentavros continued to chase each other around the beach, throwing out powerful attacks everytime they got close to each other, and everytime they began their attacks, powerful shockwaves were released which forced the Loud sisters to take cover.

Looking back at the fight, which, from their point of view is basically impossible to do so, Lynn groaned. "Ugh, look at this guy! He says to know my strength and all but look at him!"

"While I agree with you, I don't think there's literally anything we can do!" Lori said to her.

"Still!"

Just as Lynn finished saying that, another strong gust of wind and sand forced the girls to continue taking cover as they tried not to scream out of fear that the sand will get into their mouths.

Of course, Leni found that out the hard way.

Oswald continued to run around, dodging attacks from Tentavros as he took flight and began firing blasts of purple energy at him. Now we know where that armored Hexon got it from.

He swatted away some of them before he took some damage from a few that he couldn't defend himself from in time. He growled and took off, releasing a sonic boom in his trail seconds after he had begun moving.

Tentavros however, did make a point in one of his statements from before. He is unlike Korax and Lund as he lasted for quite a while and actually managed to inflict more damage than Lund. While the former was completely incapable of actually hurting Oswald back then.

While their spectators saw them as being too fast to be perceived, the fighters saw otherwise. Everything moved extremely slow for the two combatants. That's their perception at least, as even for them, they move slow. Thankfully, they can control their own perception of things.

Eventually, Oswald was wreathed in flames as his speed began increasing beyond what he usually goes at. Tentavros, in order to keep up with his opponent, also began speeding up.

The two continued their battles in high-speed clashes before eventually settling down and actually stop right where they are, presumably to think about their next move properly.

The first one to witness this turn of events was of course, Lynn, "Guys, look!"

Right after she said that, the other Louds also opened their eyes to see that Oswald and Tentavros are simply frozen in their places.

"What's going on?" Lori asked before shaking her head, "No, actually, let's get moving!"

With that, the others followed her as she got up and quickly ran off to find a better cover. Which wasn't far as they only got to the parking lot. Surprisingly enough, they didn't seem to notice the other two guests that Zed had brought along. Same goes for them too.

"I told you didn't I?" Tentavros, with great smugness in his voice, said to Oswald.

"That you won't be the same kind of opponent that Korax and Lund are? True. But you did fail to prove one thing."

Then, Tentavros seemed to take that quite personally, "Oh? And what is that?"

"That I won't last long against you. And you also proved something else. You're a goddamn coward." Oswald bluntly stated.

Tentavros simply shrugged and slightly tilted his head, inquiring Oswald to give his answer.

"If I didn't know any better, you were eyeing those girls behind that visor of yours aren't you?"

Hearing his statement, Tentavros simply placed a hand on the side of his helmet and removed his purple visor, revealing a very alien-looking face. It looked flatter than a normal human's but it still sported the basic features. Oswald couldn't care less about that fact and only focused on the smile that he sported on his face. A very wide grin, actually.

"Very observant Oswald. Very… Very…" The commander didn't even finish up before he immediately rushed off towards the direction where he saw the girls went to.

The girls, for a brief moment at least, saw Tentavros heading towards them and screamed in terror, attracting the attention of the two other kids not far from them. Also noticing their screams were Julius and Lincoln.

Lincoln gasped at the sight of the commander going straight at his sisters. Luckily, Oswald got between the two and blocked a punch from Tentavros. Oh what the result of that punch would have been if he hadn't absorbed the energy imparted.

"You stay away from them."

[]

With a loud yell, Zed clasped his hands together and brought down his hands and struck the purple orb with a hammer fist that he's put all his strength to. For a few seconds he kept quiet, before hissing in pain and reeled back while his hands shook from the force, and screamed at the top of his lungs. In a high-pitched voice.

"Oh my frakkin God!" Zed growled before he continued in his fruitless attempt in trying to break the purple orb.

"Hey Zed! We'd really appreciate if you could break that thing now!" Lawrence shouted to him.

"I'm… Trying!" Zed replied to the officer's request, grunting with each punch he threw.

"Come on now, Zed." Lawrence whispered as he continued to shoot down the countless Hexon horde from the helipad. He then turned to his back to see terrified civilians huddled together while the officers flanked them, then he shifted his attention to the ammo-filled bag, nearly diminished despite having it brought to them not too long ago.

Of course, it won't be long before anyone else falls victim to the Hexons' hands.

Point made, when they heard screaming from one end of the helipad, and gargling. At the source, a Hexon had thrown its' spear on one of the officers and stabbed him in the throat, the officer then fell shortly after.

"…Oh God." Lawrence muttered before he went off to search for something that might come in handy in Zed's bag. Which, he didn't notice the size of when they first got it from him.

Not long after he began searching, he found a rather strange bottle inside. He pulled it out, which reveals itself to be a bag of acid solution. As shown by the tape with the words 'acid' on it. He fought the urge to chuckle at seeing the label before he took off its cap and splashed it at the incoming Hexons. Much to his, and the others' surprise, it worked. Although slowly, it did began eating away at the Hexons' natural body armor.

He then began gunning down the rest before his ammo ran out, forcing him to resort to the old bullets which actually worked now that the Hexons' armor has been corroded, revealing a much more vulnerable flesh-like appearance inside.

Lawrence then began using the acid in lesser amounts so they wouldn't run out as quickly. While it did help in allowing the regular bullets to pierce through them, it won't be long before they really use up all their resources.

Meanwhile, Zed had been trying his best to destroy the purple orb. He knows that even though the officers had found a way to make their work easier, the Hexons just won't stop coming.

Though, maybe he shouldn't be too negative.

Not long after they resorted to the acid solutions, one of them had their bottle knocked out of their hand and it just happened to fall and spill on the bag.

Soon, their only remaining chance at pushing back the swarms of Hexons were reduced to nothing more than small unidentifiable pieces of what they used to be.

Then, things really kicked up, following their use of Zed's acid-filled bottles, all the Hexons began pushing back. Hard. The officers were killed off one by one, the terror among the civilians only intensified from there on. More and more Hexons reached the rooftop and were beginning to target not only them, but also Zed. It's bad enough now that he had to figure out a way to break the thing that's summoning them, he also has to deal with them. Again?

Once the Hexons got up to his spot, Zed had to quickly alter between Hexon to Hexon. Each one of them proved to be more than capable for him to handle alone. He barely had enough energy to push them away, much less to actually incapacitate them. Only now did he notice how much of his patience is being tested, and its' really pressing on him hard.

The Hexons eventually piled up on him like the rubble back at the school from a couple of weeks ago or so. They continued to beat up on him in any way they can. Every hit he took from them only fueled into his ever growing anger.

It really doesn't help that the people from the helipad were screaming at the top of their lungs. Not being able to do anything, terrified out of their minds and, hopeless. The thought of the people being filled with only fear and despair were assaults to his mind. That's the last thing he wanted to cross in his mind.

"Come on!" He shouted, at… Someone, "I need your power again!" He continued to shout, which seemed to be aimed at his "watch" which began to glow just as he was about to break.

Zed yelled out as his adrenaline gave him one last burst of energy to help him push away the Hexon pile and performed another hammer fist onto the purple orb, which struck hard on it.

Then, nothing happened. Until of course, the Hexons began spazzing out as if they've got seizure. Following that, was a light show from the orb, illuminating the Hospital's rooftop which could be seen from far away. The intensity and brightness of the light was hard to ignore as every police units around the city watched. Joining them in witnessing the light, were the fighters from the beach.

When the light cleared up, it revealed that the Hexon swarm had disappeared along with the purple orb.

[]

"Whoa! Did you see that?" Lincoln asked Julius, who smiled from behind his visor.

"He did it…" Said the teen, "He did it! Yes! Come on, Lincoln! Let's finish up on our battle!" He confidently pointed the Lancer towards the Armore Hexon, who looked like it was about to go into a panic attack.

"Ready…" Lincoln began, before shouting, "GO!"

Then, the two rushed forward with all they've got and charged up their weapon. Once they were within range, they struck the Armored Hexon while it was still immobilized from the shock of having its' Hexon-making orb destroyed. Lincoln threw an uppercut with the Knuckler while Julius struck it diagonally upwards in the gut using the Lancer, sending the Hexon flying far and high into the sky before it exploded in a massive ball of flames which blew away large amount of clouds.

"Yeah!" Lincoln cheered as he saw the end of their opponent.

"Now let's get back to Oswald!" Julius said.

"Right! Speaking of Oswald…" Lincoln trailed off when he turned to see Oswald struggling to hold off an attack from Tentavros.

But what really got Lincoln's attention were the two girls behind him. The twins, the two kids he saved not long ago, were now in trouble yet again. The other girls too were all around them, on the ground, as if they've taken a more direct attack from the Commander. Lily, who was now in Lana's arms after having been knocked from Leni who had her before, began to cry as Tentavros continued to strike the kneeling Oswald repeatedly.

"Get away from them!" Lincoln shouted as he ran towards Tentavros, charging up his weapon along the way.

He then threw a punch once he got in range, only for it to be caught without much effort by the Commander.

"You think your weapon can hurt me?" Said the Commander in a condescending tone, "Know your place, you worthless dirt-crawlers!" He furiously shouted as he stopped attacking Oswald and instead backhanded Lincoln away, sending him flying towards the sister in his direction: Leni.

The boy hit Leni and knocked out the two. Thankfully, Lincoln hadn't morphed out of his suit just yet. Though, this triggered an extreme level of anger from Oswald.

"…I told you…" He quietly said as he got back on his feet.

"What!?" Tentavros snapped at him, only to feel overwhelmed by an intense aura coming from the man.

"To keep your filth-riddled hands off the others!" Oswald angrily shouted at him before he threw a powerful punch that sent the Commander all the way to the sea.

Moments after he was sent flying there, Tentavros floated out of the waters and yelled yet again, "This. Is. UNFORGIVABLE!" He then descended back into the water and punched a large mass of it, creating a towering but thin tsunami which rushed towards the shores.

Meanwhile, an exhausted Zed too watched as the giant wave approached the shore, in his mind, he repeatedly chanted one thing, "Please, please, please." Over and over.

"Don't you know when to shut up?" Oswald simply said.

He walked towards the large body of water and held his hand out. He focused a vast portion of his energy into his hand and waited for the water to hit it. Seconds later, the water and his hand made contact, and while the other Loud sisters and Julius tried to brace themselves-although Julius probably wouldn't feel much from the impact-and opened their eyes when nothing happened.

It is revealed that Oswald had stopped the wave with just his hands. Though, if they focused their eyes on the water itself, they'll see that it was emitting a very faint green glow from within.

Julius quickly ran on the far side to see that Tentavros was, well, on the verge of losing his mind. His hands were shaking and every now and again, his audio sensors could faintly pick up a small whimper from him.

"No, no, no, no, NO!" Tentavros propelled himself towards the bug-man, "You are not going to defeat me!"

"No," Oswald pushed the water apart, splitting it into two before he walked forward and performed a feat that would make Lisa crazy, he walked on the water.

He than raised a pillar made out of water and pointed at Tentavros.

"You've already lost."

Chapter Ends.

* * *

There we go, a bit weird but I suppose it'll work out, right?

So there we have it, this battle will be coming to a close in the next chapter.

With that, you should already know, that Chapter 27 will coming next week.


	27. Chapter 27 Extinguishing

Chapter 27.

* * *

The Loud sisters, except for Leni, watched as Oswald formed several water pillars around him. Half a dozen, at least. Joining them in watching in amazement is Julius who was supporting an unconscious Lincoln. Lori too had helped up her younger sister.

Oswald then clenched his hands, causing the pillars to rapidly spiral around, effectively turning them into gigantic water drills.

Tentavros, feeling as though Oswald was mocking him, snapped once more, "You think you can beat me with such a malleable liquid substance!?"

Blinded by his rage, Tentavros sped through towards Oswald and was once again covered in flames with his speed.

Oswald, using the large body of water around him as platforms, began surfing forward by letting the water carry him. He pulled his fists backward and the water drills seem to follow suit, as they moved behind as if they had motion sensors in them.

Then Oswald threw his fists forward into the air as if he was punching, then the 6 water pillars followed his motion as they too quickly jetted forward and struck the furious Tentavros. Striking him down with great force, amplified further by Oswald's energy flowing through them.

Once again, the Commander was sent falling down into the water like a fly and quickly rose back up, shaking his head frustration as he growled loudly.

"…Looks like the firefighter has arrived!" Luan joked, actually getting a round of laughter from her sisters, including Julius.

"Yeah! Kick his arse!" Luna cheered for Oswald, imitating an English accent in the process.

"Come on, Oswald! Finish him!" Julius joined in cheering on for Oswald.

Then, for a moment there, they thought his armor changed. They thought right, he now sported a longer antennae and had a bluish tint on his armor, his eyes too had turned blue.

Using his speed, and masterful control over the massive body of water around him, Oswald ran towards Tentavros, who only now seemed to have returned his focus onto the battle. Though it was too late, as Tentavros was immediately met with a fist to his face, sent again flying several meters away.

Now, the Commander seems to be hyperventilating, mostly due to the fact that he is about to lose.

Then, several more water pillars struck him continuously, swatting him around like the bug he sees the people as.

Before he could regain his composure, Tentavros was struck repeatedly by at least, hundreds of water projectiles, which began to tear away at his armor.

It took a giant wave hitting him to finally get him back to reality.

He roared as he punched away at another wave that was heading towards him. He flew even higher and began charging a large ball of purple energy, which then began emitting electricity all around it. The sphere too began illuminating the now evening sky.

[]

"Oh no… Oswald…" Zed coughed, having been placed on a stretcher after he was retrieved from the signal tower where he had collapsed, "Finish this now…"

"What is that?" An officer asked, crouching on one side of the stretcher.

"It could be the end of the Earth-Moon system if the guy fighting that doesn't hurry."

"What…?" Lawrence, who was on the other end of the stretcher, looked at the heavily injured man, "You mean like… The Earth and the Moon's range?"

Zed nodded, before adding and extra bit of info, "Yeah, that much damage in one gigantic spherical explosion."

Lawrence was of course, terrified when he heard what Zed said. Not that he didn't believe him, but it was still hard to wrap his head around what in the world he just heard. There was definitely a sense of dread in him now.

[]

Oswald, watching as the sphere grow larger and larger, took a stance and began collecting the water around him. Forming them into a large sphere of his own, although it was noticeably smaller, or dwarfed in comparison to Tentavros'. But it's all he needed.

He kept himself afloat using several water pillars that held his sphere in place, then, he positioned himself so that his leg would be pointed towards the opposing force.

"Julius!" He spoke. While it wasn't loud enough for the girls to hear, Julius picked it up.

"Yeah?" Replied the teen, which got the girls looking at him in confusion.

"I need you to hit me as hard as you can." Ordered the man.

Without any hesitation, Julius asked the other sisters, that being Luan and Lynn, to take care of Lincoln. He then brought the Lancer to his face and began pulling down the lever three times. Which revealed its' function as a way to power up his weapon. After the third pull, the blade began glowing.

"Ready." Julius said to Oswald.

"Now!" Shouted his senior.

Without a second thought, Julius jumped his way towards Oswald and struck the sphere as hard as he could using his weapon. Thankfully, he charged it just enough to send the ball of energy flying towards Tentavros' own, which the Commander had thrown just before Julius made his move.

Along the way, Oswald shaped his sphere into an arrow of sorts to counter his opponent's attack in an attempt to pierce through it. The two clashed, creating large bursts of energy with each passing second.

The two roared as they continued to push forward. Though, Oswald had taken a more direct approach in his part and was beginning to push back Tentavros' energy sphere, forcing the desperate Commander to further sully his hands by firing a beam of energy towards the Loud sisters.

Julius however, was there to protect them. Unfortunately, his energy was just about to run out as he struck the explosive projectile at the expense of his last remaining energy. The explosion knocked him back and out of his armor, surprising the sisters at the revelation.

Lincoln was just beginning to wake up when Julius was finally knocked out. When he saw another one coming, he quickly jumped in front of his sisters and put up his shield, causing the projectile to bounce upwards and explode in mid-air. Thankfully, he still had enough energy to sustain his armor.

Furious at this, Oswald further charged up his attack and was really pushing back Tentavros' sphere without much resistance.

"I can't take this anymore…" Said the Commander, finally realizing his defeat and flew off.

With one final yell, Oswald began pushing it further and further into the sky before he reached an altitude high enough for him to detonate and take most of the energy contained within the sphere. It was a highly risky move, but he just had to do it.

Then, a massive explosion broke out far into the Exosphere. It continued to expand, greatly worrying all those who watched it. If that didn't stop then, everything would be over just like that. All of Oswald's efforts would be in vain. Had he not been the most tenacious bug to ever exist.

At some point, the explosion stopped. Then, slowly, it began shrinking. As if something was absorbing all that destructive energy. That something, was none other than Oswald himself. If soundwaves were still capable of traveling at the place where he is, the people around would be hearing nothing but the most pained scream to ever come out of him so far.

Within moments, the explosion were reduced to nothing as they had all been soaked into Oswald's body for him to take in all the energy released.

As the explosion ceased to be, Oswald fell down, fast. After shooting down on the Earth, he finally landed in the water, miles offshore.

His armor had dematerialized from his body and his energy was waning. There's a big chance he could just die out there. So, to keep his eyes from closing and letting out his last breath, he continued to stare into the night sky that had fallen minutes ago as he drifted in the ocean. Not helping him in his condition is that he is still in his underwear. Hypothermia could very well take him away from this world at this point.

Seconds passed. Minutes passed. Hours. Oswald's eyes grew ever more tired, they slowly began drooping as the cold embrace of the night begins to take him. Which would soon turn to death's. His vision began fading away. Then, his eyes just shut.

In his mind, he could only listen to the last thoughts he can ask himself.

" _Well, looks like this is it huh? Might as well just talk to myself…_ "

" _If there's one thing I regret… Is that I never got the chance to open up to those guys._ "

" _At least… They're safe now…"_

" _I wish I could've been a better person or, even a friend to them though…_ "

" _Oh the things I could have done…_ "

" _Zed would probably be shouting at me right now if he sees me like this…_ " He weakly smiled, his eyes beginning to pry open, even if slightly.

" _But then again… There's so much more for me to do…_ "

" _I… I can't die just yet…_ "

Then, his eyes were met with a blinding light, and he could only do so much to shield his eyes from it. For a short moment, he thought it was something else, as all he could weakly force out was, "…Is that...?"

Shortly after he said that, a couple of police officers dropped down with a harness, ready for him to use. He was then strapped up and brought up to the rescue helicopter, where he finally let his consciousness be suspended.

[]

"But sir, you can't leave yet! There is much more that the doctor needs to check up on you!" The nurse pleaded for Oswald to sit still as the man put on a new pair of clothes that, judging from the 'get well' message placed on it, was given to him by the Loud sisters. A sign of their thanks as well.

"Look, I already told you, I'm fine!" Oswald reassured the nurse.

"That's why the doctor needs to examine you further!"

"…No." Oswald simply said.

Shortly after that, Oswald made his way out of his room and passed by several other rooms. Stopping only after he overhears the mentioning of the name, "Loud". Mister and Miss, respectively.

Thinking that he should bring good news for once, he briefly smiled before he continued on his way out of the building.

As he neared the entrance, he saw that Zed, Julius, and the Loud kids were waiting at a bench on the opposite side of the counter. Most of them seemed to be nervously waiting for someone, and looking at how Zed is simply standing around calmly gives him indication that they've been here just now. He then assumed that they were all waiting for him. He got his answers when he made his presence known.

"Top of the morning, lads and lasses." He announced, wearing his usual deadpan expression.

"There he is." Zed looked at his "friend" with a smile.

"Oh, thank goodness!" The sisters sighed in relief.

"Yep. But first, I'd like to say something." Oswald confidently said.

"What is it?" Lincoln asked first.

"Your parents," He paused to see their reactions, "Have finally woken up."

He couldn't help but smile when he saw their jaws dropped upon hearing his news. In fact, even Zed was surprised at that.

"Now go and see them you chaos children." Oswald pointed behind him using his thumb.

Chapter End.

* * *

As the Relief Arc comes to an end, Oswald has seemingly turned to a better person. Not only that, he has also brought good news to the Loud kids for once.

Well, simply put, we're done. Now what was the point of this Arc, you might ask? Nothing too relevant to future events but it does indicate some massive power growth in our characters don't it? It also helped pointing where exactly the fighters stand in terms of power levels.

Chapter 28, coming soon. Following the same format as it once did. 1 week intervals.


	28. Chapter 28 Reawakening

**A/N: Okay, due to some important changes made to my schedule next year, this will be the last time I will be posting on weekdays. After this, the following updates will be moved to Sundays. Actually, with that, expect the next chapter soon. Anyway, read, and review I suppose.**

Chapter 28.

* * *

After having woken up from a long sleep after a fight of near comparable length, Oswald finds out that both Mr. And Mrs. Loud have woken up from a long comatose state. Thinking that he should be less negative for a change, especially after that battle, he thought he'd break the news to their kids and give them a boost.

Once the news regarding their parents was dropped, the Loud siblings all left the scene hurriedly to meet their parents. Oswald simply looked at them as they hastily made their way to the floor he had told them where their parents are.

"Huh, you're awfully cheerful today. What's going on?" Zed asked, placing a hand in his pocket. Of course, he wears yet another suit.

"Ah well, you know?" Oswald responded, without giving a direct answer, "Speaking of day, what day is it? And where are the other two kids you brought along?"

"Well, you've been unconscious for at least a couple of days actually," Zed answered before adding to Oswald's second question, "You mean Ronnie Anne and Clyde? Those guys are currently not allowed to come with us in our adventures again. So, yeah."

"I told you we shouldn't have done all that." Oswald said, his usual tone seems to have resurfaced.

"Yeah. Anyway, wanna join up with those kids?"

"No, not yet at least. Let's give them time."

[]

Meanwhile, back at the floor the kids were looking for, a doctor just came out of the room where a certain couple were admitted in. He planned to make a call for the two, tell their children that they wanted to see them. Though, it seemed that it wasn't necessary for him to even get out of the room at all.

Thunderous footsteps began shaking the floor he was on, nearly causing panic for everyone there. Of course, this did not worry the Loud parents in any way at all.

Then, from around the corner, came a storm. 11 pair of legs all rapidly stomping on the floor, only getting louder and closer as each second went by. Then, it came to a complete halt.

While the others who were present at the floor could now rest easy, the doctor wasn't so lucky as he was immediately bombarded with questions.

"Easy, kids. I suppose you'd want to see your parents?" The doctor tried to calm them down.

"Yes, please!" Lincoln answered.

"Well, be my guest."

As soon as the doctor said that, the Loud siblings all rushed inside to see their currently bedridden parents. Who did nothing more than smile and waved to their children.

After not having seen them for so long, it was only logical that they would all begin tearing up and feel the happiest they can be ever since all of this had started. No longer capable of holding themselves back, they ran towards their parents and gave them a big hug. With the older sisters, including Lily as Lori was the one holding her, going to their mother and the younger ones, including Lincoln, went to their father.

The parents, knowing well how their children are feeling right now, only embraced them as they cried their hearts out.

"There, there, kids." Mr. Loud said to them, trying to ease them up as the twins buried their face into his chest as they sobbed.

"Heh, what did we miss?" Mrs. Loud jokingly asked her daughters.

Lincoln was the first to pull himself out of the hug and wiped his tears off his face, "Oh man, I can't believe it's nearly been 3 weeks since we last saw you! So many have happened during those times and… And…" He seemed to have hit a dead end and started feeling down.

"What's wrong?" Asked their father.

"Nothing… It's just, maybe there were too much things happening."

Just as he said that, his sisters, who have also let themselves go from the hug, all began to look down on the floor, feeling distraught.

"Look, I don't remember much on what happened before we were knocked out, but I think the city was under attack right?" Mr. Loud said, "But at least we're all okay now, we're still here."

Although it wasn't enough to lift their spirits up, his words still brought smiles to his children's faces.

"There we go! That's what I want to see!"

"Would talking about it help in some way?" Mrs. Loud asked them, who all seemed to be rather nervous in sharing their experience until Lincoln's face lit up as an idea struck him.

"Well, we did meet more good people as things went on, right guys?" The buck-toothed boy looked to his sisters.

"Yeah, remember that teacher we talked about several weeks ago? Also the one you met for a moment back at the shelter? Mr. Zed?" Lori began, which their parents responded to with a nod and an expectant look, "Well, after all the other things that happened, he continued to support us and took care of us while you guys weren't around."

"Ah, I remember him," Said Mr. Loud, looking over to his wife while exchanging nods, "It's great that he's been taking good care of you guys. So, anything else?"

"Don't forget about that guy in that orange suit! He was rad!" Lynn excitedly and unknowingly talked about Lincoln's alter-ego.

"Let's not forget Oswald too, when he stopped that speed demon!" Luna joined, accidentally mentioning Oswald's name.

Naturally, the couple were confused and glanced at one another before Mr. Loud inquired that his daughter tells him of this, Oswald guy, "Say Luna, can you maybe, elaborate on this Oswald guy?"

Hearing her father's request, Luna went wide-eyed and covered her mouth before saying, "Oh, did I say that? Well, yeah but-"

"Actually, I think by now they should have their moment now so, go ahead." The man in question spoke to his and the Loud kids' acquaintance.

With their small talk done, in comes the first man the kids mentioned, Zed Abraham. As usual, the man walked in with a wide smile on his face, which then turned to a grin as he saw that everyone seems to be having a good time. At least, in his eyes.

"What's wrong, why'd you guys stop talking? You were just about to get to the parts where things got better." He spoke up after silencing the room with him and Oswald talking just seconds prior.

"Yes, this here, is Mr. Abe. Maybe you remember him, maybe not." Lincoln said, pointing towards their teacher. Former for the girls and temporary for him.

"Ah, I think I remember you. At least by name and your ridiculous love for suits." Mrs. Loud said, getting a shrug from Zed.

"Hey, at least I take the full package and not just ties." He smiled dumbly, which caused Mr. Loud to flinch.

"Huh, see honey? Even our visitor here thinks your tie collection is weird." Mrs. Loud looked at her husband.

"Oh come on, I told you not to bring that up!"

"Ahh, don't worry, Lynn. I'm not gonna push on it further anyways." He waved off the Louds' father, mentioning his name in the process.

Of course, thinking it was her, Lynn looked at Zed with a confused, "Huh?"

"Oh, I mean, Lynn Sr." Zed added.

"Anyway, why don't we move on with the next person we've met with?" Lincoln tried to usher them to a new topic.

"Ah yes, this Oswald guy right?" Mrs. Loud presumed.

"Yeah!"

Lincoln then turned to the door to call out for Oswald, but before he could even begin to inhale, Oswald spoke up from outside.

"I suppose it's my time huh?" He interrupted Lincoln just like he had done to Clyde back at The Mall.

"Uh... Yeah." Lincoln slowly replied.

"Welp, might as well." Said the man outside, and soon, in comes a man taller than everyone else in the room.

Of course, that was something that the others too have noticed just now. Probably because things are much calmer than they usually are right now.

"Right," Oswald smiled a little before continuing, "Let's get this over with."

Oswald then began to introduce himself, and delved only small parts of his background as he went on. Though, knowing that he is talking to the Loud family, and if there's anything he's learned about them, is that they just love to bombard him with questions at speed that even he would have been unable to keep up with.

While they continued their conversation, Julius had finally caught up with them and stopped just outside the door leading to the room, and right before he could knock on it, he felt someone lightly tapping him on the shoulder.

He turned to see a nurse behind him, "Oh, what is it?"

"I'm afraid you can't go in since the room is currently overflowing with people," Warned the nurse before he looked around to think, "Though, if you must go, tell them this…"

Seconds later, after the nurse had finished telling him of something, Julius nodded at her request and nodded. Just before he could go however, the nurse stopped him again.

"Wait, are you, by any chance, Julius?" The nurse asked.

"Yeah, why?"

Shortly after his confirmation on his identity, the nurse looked relieved and sighed, looking back to him with a smile. "I just wanted to thank you for saving my daughter out there."

Julius was confused at this. " _Daughter? What... Oh._ " He thought, sporting a look of realization at the end.

"Ah, you must be Ronnie Anne's mother then?" He finally pieced together the puzzle.

The nurse nodded, "Again, thank you for helping her out there."

"Don't worry, it's just what I do."

After that, the nurse excused herself and continued on her way, leaving Julius free to do what he had intended to. He pushed open the door and accidentally hit Zed and a couple of Loud sisters by doing so, those being Lynn and Luan, who simply reacted with an, "Ow!" while Zed was surprised but was in no way hurt by it.

"Oops, sorry." Said the teen, "Anyway, what did I miss?"

"I… Was just about to get to you…" Oswald finished talking.

"Ah, you can get to know me some other time, but first, I've got something to tell you guys. Mr. And Mrs. Loud right here are both going to be discharged in several hours!"

His news got the Loud children cheering once more while their parents smiled in relief, happy to know that they will be joining their kids once more.

"Sweet entrance, J." Zed leaned close to Julius as he rubbed his nose, still somewhat hurt from the impact.

"I know, also, I think we really should be letting these guys have their time now."

Hearing his words, both Zed and Oswald nodded as the Louds continued to cheer. Strange though, the doctors and by extension, Zed, were sure that the parents were to go through a sort of rehab in order to fix their muscles after suffering heavy damage and being inactive for at least a couple of weeks.

Chapter End.

* * *

Meh.

Also, I think things should at least slow down, especially after the first actual big arc.

Chapter 29 will be out soon enough.

Y'know what? Question time. Aside from Lincoln, who else do you think deserves some time as the main focus?


	29. Chapter 29 Going back home

**A/N: Alright guys, a bit of news, I'll be cancelling this story and rework it. I'm sure that by now, you all know that this story just wasn't going anywhere. So, I'll be taking the first 6 months of this year to redo everything and upload them as an entirely separate story.**

Chapter 29.

* * *

"Alright, you guys take care now!" Zed bade farewell to Lincoln and his family upon exiting the Hospital.

"We will!" Lincoln said back to his teacher.

"Thank you for taking care of them! Hope they weren't too much of a handful." Rita laughed as she waved Zed and his friends goodbye.

"Trust me, if they had been, we'd all be crying tears of joy right now." Oswald responded, prompting a round of laughter from the Loud.

With all said and done, the Loud family too began making their way back to their humble abode. Which, may contain surprises for the parents since they haven't been there for quite a while by now. Of course, they had brought along the family vehicle, Vanzilla, which Lori offered to drive so as to let their parents rest while they travel back home.

Once they had arrived back at the neighborhood, Lori parked the car in the driveway and announced the end of their journey.

"Alright, are you guys ready for this?" Lori walked to the door and placed her hand on the knob, getting only nods from her parents, "Here. We. Go!"

Lori quickly pushed the door open and ran inside along with her siblings and raised their arms to point towards the large banner strung across the living room with the words, "Welcome back!" written on it.

Needless to say, the parents felt their welcome to be all too heartwarming and touching. They responded with very heartfelt, "Aww"s, letting their kids know that truly, they have really begun to miss them during their time at the Hospital.

On the couch, were several presents. All of which were undoubtedly the Loud kids', apparently from back at the Mall, aside from their wants, they have also thought of getting something for their parents for when they come back to them.

"Here you go mom and dad! Your presents!" Lincoln pointed the two joyous adults to their gifts, which also included his own.

"Well, we didn't really get them ourselv-" A nudge from Lori stopped Lynn from saying something. Well, they were told to keep quiet about their outside helper during this time. Lynn, getting the message, changed the topic, "Uh-Oh, yeah! Why don't you just start digging through?"

"Well, honey, I don't see why not." Lynn Sr. agreed to Jr.'s suggestion.

"Yes, I think it would be a great idea." Rita concurred as well.

And so, the Loud parents began with Lily's present first after their kids recommended that they follow the youngest to oldest order. Following that, they gradually reached all the way up to Lori's. The gifts presented to them varied from person to person. They ranged from simple clothing that they thought might look good on them, to an addition on their father's collection of ties, and some other things that the Loud kids can think of to buy for them.

Once the presents were done with, the kids all helped in cleaning up the remains of their presents' wrappings.

Then, the boxes the gifts were placed on the floor in front of the couch in the respective order they were opened, with the Loud parents sitting on the couch with their kids all smiling widely as they stood in front of them.

"There you go!" Lori said.

"Sorry that we didn't get you anything amazing." Luna sheepishly apologized.

"Yeah, to be honest, they were actually more of an afterthought." Lincoln shrugged with a nervous smile.

"Nonsense!" Rita said, exchanging looks with her husband before continuing," If anything, just being able to be here with you kids is enough for us."

"Yep! Doesn't matter what you get for us, just having you guys in our lives make every single day worth going through." Lynn Sr. added.

Those words clearly meant a lot to the kids as they boosted his children's mood further and the two of them soon found themselves in the middle of a deadly family bear hug.

* * *

Soon after, they all decided then that it was best that everyone would be off, continuing on with their daily duties.

However, Lisa had asked Lincoln to follow her… Into the boy's room, where she had told him that she will be discussing about some of the things that have happened so far. Naturally, Lincoln, wanting to get the weight off his chest, agreed to talk about the things that have been bothering him lately.

"Right, so what do you want to talk about Lisa?" Lincoln began as he closed the door, letting his younger sister start first.

"You should know by now Lincoln." Lisa simply stated, adjusting her glasses before looking back to her brother.

"…Oh, where do you wanna start?" Lincoln asked, rubbing the back of his neck.

Lisa did not give any response, but instead, simply stared back at Lincoln with her usual non-expressive face. The boy saw this and glanced around for a bit, taking a deep breath, before exhaling as he closed his eyes.

"Alright," Lincoln said, walking over to his bed and leaned back on the headboard, "It's really bothering me… You know what."

"Yes Lincoln, I do know. But, would you care to be more specific about it?" Lisa struggled to get up on the bed with Lincoln until she was helped up.

"Of course…" Lincoln closed his eyes and tried to think of what exactly was bothering him throughout his journey. Only to fall silent when a familiar voice began talking to him once more after having kept quiet all this time.

" _You're worried about your family's safety, aren't you?_ " The voice said to him.

" _Yes._ "

" _And you're also worried about your own life._ "

Lincoln didn't want to reply to that, but since the belt's consciousness is pretty much connected to his, he may not even need to say anything at all.

" _But you also know, that no matter what-Lincoln-, you're going to protect your family-Lincoln-, even if the odds are stacked against you._ "

" _I know._ "

" _Don't be reckless-Lincoln.-, kid._ "

"Lincoln!" Lisa's call dragged the boy back to reality.

"Wha-What?" The sole Loud boy looked around and focused back on Lisa, "Oh."

"What do you mean 'Oh'?" Lisa asked her brother, looking visibly agitated, "You just went quiet!"

"I'm sorry Lisa," He apologized, looking away as he added, "I think, I'm just too worried. About things as they are now. We can't really tell when those guys will attack again. Or heck, why exactly those guys attacked us for."

"Listen, Lincoln, just because I'm me, it does not mean that I lack any emotions whatsoever," Lisa bluntly stated, "Especially back at that time when that thing had your friend, and us, at his mercy."

Lincoln narrowed his eyes as he listened to Lisa talk, before they widened in realization on what she meant. What she was truly hinting at.

"Truth is, I too, am very terrified when we were, figuratively speaking, backed into a corner."

The young scientist then began burying her face in her small hands, letting out a small sigh afterwards. She was trying to regain composure after thinking about what else could have happened to her. To them. She slowly turned to Lincoln, her face molded into a sad expression. Or rather, fear.

"Lincoln, are… Are you afraid of dying?"

Naturally, Lincoln was very much surprised when he heard her ask him that. Of course he is. Though, knowing that there may be more that she wanted to say, he could only let out, "What?"

"Have you ever felt so helpless? To not be able to do anything while you watch as the terror goes on?"

Lincoln searched his mind to look for an answer that should be able to ease off her worries, all while sounding like he knows what exactly Lisa felt. He does. While he was busy thinking, the Belt had looked deep into his memory vault and projected the memories of a certain time.

Yes, a certain time from when he too had been down. His family were far too injured to feel anything or be able to assess their surroundings at the time. However, he wasn't spared from the horrors of his situation. Death, all around as the Hexons continued to slaughter the people in the scene, the resisting officers. He felt nothing but terror at the sight of those. Making things worse, he couldn't do anything at that time. But something interfered him from a date with Death.

Indeed, this interloper was his belt. It had called out to him, beckoning Lincoln to save his life, and in turn, his family's.

Only then, did Lincoln find the right answer. Hopefully.

Lisa, who waited still for answer, began tearing up when her fears began to grow at the back of her mind. She was just about to silently leave the room until Lincoln finally spoke up, saying only, "Yes!"

His answer prompted Lisa to stop and turn around to look back at the boy, tears trickling down her face.

"I… Do understand how you feel," Lincoln answered to her question with a smile, "I am afraid of dying. I have felt helpless before. That's why I put on this belt."

Lincoln got up and changed the Belt to its' usual form, and looked back at Lisa.

The child prodigy didn't quite get it. So, she asked, "What do you mean?"

"I'm not sure if it's right but, when I found myself on the ground at that time when the Hexons first attacked, I felt everything you've asked me about. Honestly, it was terrifying, and I was just about to give up. That is until, my little buddy here told me to keep going."

Lisa, now having a better understanding of Lincoln's message, wiped her tears. Though, her mind was still restless, and thought one of his points was rather null.

"Well, you may be who you are right now, but we don't have any powers to defend ourselves with," Lisa somberly responded, "So we're not exactly being pushed further by anything or anyone."

Things went quiet again after Lisa presented her opinion on Lincoln's resolve and will to continue living.

"Well, you have Oswald?" Lincoln said without much certainty.

Lisa felt offended when she heard what Lincoln said.

"Lincoln, I'd rather if you don't mention his name here," Lisa walked up to her brother and looked up to him, "He may be one of your partners in battles, but I don't like him. More than I don't like Zed still."

Just as she said that, they both heard what sounded like a bang as a result from someone punching hard on something. Knowing that their family's always like that, something getting broke every now and then, they ignored it.

"I know you don't like him, but I think maybe, just maybe, that he and the others are hiding something from us. Something they'd rather not share?"

"I see nothing in that man that makes him one."

Then another one, sounding louder than before.

"Listen, Lisa, maybe you shouldn't be judging someone just because they don't strike to you as someone tolerable."

Lisa looked on the floor, sighing, "I know, Lincoln. I'm sorry. I just couldn't help but think that maybe one day, something is going to go wrong with him."

"That's what you said with Zed, but has he ever done anything to hurt any of us?"

Seeing Lincoln's point, and his persistence, Lisa dropped their current topic and simply apologized to Lincoln, "You're right. I have been wrong once, and there's always the possibility of me being wrong again."

"Good, now why don't we talk about this some other day? We are supposed to relax today." Lincoln suggested, ruffling his sister's hair.

"Very well. Have a good day." Lisa tried to smack away Lincoln's hand, which only made her look adorable in her brother's eyes.

"Alright now." Lincoln said, putting his hands on his hip.

"Of course," Lisa simply said before putting on a smile, "I may not have gotten my problem resolved, but at least I got to get something off my chest. Thank you, Lincoln."

With a nod, the two ended their conversation there with Lisa exiting the room. Lincoln walked out soon after his Belt put on its' disguise, only to spot the twins behind the door. Which Lisa also noticed.

"Greetings, my twin sisters." She spoke to them while she walked into her and Lily's room.

"Lola? Lana? What are you doing here?"

"We were-"

"Nothing, Lincoln! Come now Lana!" Lola shut her twin's mouth before dragging her off, which she responded to by smacking her hand away.

"Hey!" Lana pushed Lola's hand away before spitting in disgust, "So yeah, we were listening to you guys talk and I didn't like how Lisa was talking bad about Oswald."

"Why do you even care about him?" The young diva next to her asked, visibly frustrated at her sister.

"Well duh, because he's saved us? Twice. Maybe three times."

"So?"

"So, he's a good guy!"

"Heh," Lincoln chuckled listening to his sisters' petty arguments, "That he is, Lana, that he is."

"See? Lincoln agrees?" Lana fold her arms, looking at Lola with one eyebrow raised.

Having nobody else to back her up on this, Lola growled and stomped back to her room. Lana followed shortly after.

"I wish days like these can come again soon."

Then, Lincoln's phone rang. He picked it up and found that Clyde is on the other end.

"Oh, hi buddy!" Lincoln cheerfully greeted him. Before nodding with his answer, "Uh-huh."

Their talk went on for a bit longer until Lincoln reached the bottom of the stairs where put away his phone back in his pocket.

"Hey mom, dad!" He called out to his parents, who were both sitting on the couch still, "I'm going out with Clyde, I won't be long!"

"Alright, Lincoln, you go and have fun!" Rita said to her son.

Lincoln then proceed to lead himself out of the house and walk down the steps, taking a deep breath and exhaling once he got to the pavement. With a nod, he ran off to where Clyde had last informed him of his location. With at least a few more hours to spare, he plans to make the best of the day.

Hopefully, without much trouble.

Chapter Ends.

* * *

Alright, that's chapter 29.

Sorry I dragged it out guys, I just wanted Chapter 30 to have a slight change of pace.

Anyway, Chapter 30 will come soon enough.


	30. Going Out

**A/N: Well, it's not completely decided yet. But the story will be put on a pause once it strikes its 50th chapter. While we're still here, read and review, whoever among you can still put up a decent one.**

Chapter 30.

* * *

In town, Lincoln and Clyde walked all around to find a good spot to hang out at. The arcade, or as it's better known, Gus' Games and Grubs, is still closed at the time, besides, it wouldn't really be where they'd be going anyway after what happened there last time. So, they continued on, walking away from the currently inaccessible building.

The two could only go on forward when they realized every available building in sight didn't quite catch their attention. That is until, Lincoln remembered something that has continuously escaped his mind.

"Oh man!" Lincoln exclaimed, gaining Clyde's attention, "I just remembered something!"

"What is it?"

"How many issues of Ace Savvy have I missed?"

"Ah, I wouldn't really worry about that," Clyde told his friend, feeling rather confident about his own words, "They said that ever since the first attack started, productions' been halted for a while. I also heard that the ones that have been made are supposed to be making it into stores by the end of this week."

"Oh, okay then. Thank goodness." Lincoln breathed a sigh of relief after knowing that his friend is at least informed about things while he is busy out there.

"I've got the latest ones in stash, I can let you borrow them since they've since sold out of them." Clyde offered.

"Alright, thanks, Clyde," Lincoln accepted his friend's offer before yet another question came into mind, "Say, why'd you ask me to come alone?"

"Oh, that. Well uh, my parents told me that if I really wanted to go out, I should at least go with someone I know and someone they can trust."

"Zed?" Lincoln spoke of the first name of whoever may have led to this happening.

"Zed." Clyde confirmed.

"Woah, look, what's that?" The Loud boy pointed at a group of police officers overlooking a crime scene.

They could tell because of the large crowd trying to get past what they can only assume were police lines. Not to mention, the large commotion and the shouting from a couple of officers, telling them to back away.

"Huh, a crime scene huh?" Clyde eyed the group.

"Well, it's probably something else. Probably the trail of a robber or something. Good thing nobody died lately." Lincoln tried being positive about the situation.

"Heh, yeah." Clyde agreed, walking alongside Lincoln as they moved further from the area.

* * *

"So, what do you think, Lawrence?" Asked one of the officers currently at the scene, it was officer Jameson.

"I don't know, it's probably what? 7th case now?" Replied the sergeant, scratching his head before looking back at the focus of this case.

Right in front of them were heavily mutilated corpses. The victims consisted of a man, a woman, a couple of teens and even children. Some of them had their limbs ripped off, some of them had been disemboweled, some had lost any remains on how they may have looked like before this. Most however, all looked like they had been struck multiple times using a heavy object of sorts. Or rather, with great force. Perhaps both.

"To think that Zed doesn't know all this huh?" Jameson asked his superior, who nodded in response.

"Hey guys!" Came a voice from an alleyway close to the building where this alleged crime scene took place.

Lawrence and Jameson both went off to the source after telling the rest of the officers to take care of things there. Soon, the two arrived to see a young girl backed into a corner, cowering in fear as she sat with her knees tucked close to her face. Officer Lombard was just a few meters away from her.

"This again, huh?" Lawrence said, prompting a nod from Jameson while Lombard was trying to calm the girl down.

"Hey, Jameson?" Lombard called his co-worker.

"Say no more buddy." The mentioned cop raised his hand and took an earmuff from his belt and put it on.

"Come on now, Lombard."

The two left while Jameson was left to deal with the traumatized witness of the crime. This had been going on for quite a while now, and the two would always leave the more soft-faced Jameson in charge when it comes to take care of this. Thus, the the hard-boiled Lawrence and the charmless Lombard, at least that was how his co-workers see him as, would simply leave the scene before…

A loud, ear-piercing scream thundered from the alleyway, forcing everyone who heard it to close their ears. Seems that Jameson's asked the question already. That was the response they most frequently got from people like those. Not that it can be helped or that they can be blamed though.

Lawrence simply looked around, trying to find more clues on the perpetrator of this incident. His chiseled face looking evermore serious whenever he gets his mind into things.

Without a doubt, there is definitely something much more sinister happening from behind the scenes. Seeing as how things are, the possibility of the Hexons doing such gruesome work is impossible to rule out by now.

Even then, despite all these other creatures that can only be assumed to be the Hexons' commanders, there seems to be someone else pulling even their strings.

Of course, nobody else save for the two people who have been the most experienced knows who exactly this mastermind is.

Lawrence then asked for his colleagues to take care of the rest while he went off to make a call to a certain someone who might need the info.

Meanwhile, back with the two blissfully unaware kids, they have long since passed hearing distance when the scream occurred. As of now, they were just about to make their way to wherever they could go when they were passed by a very familiar biker. Their attention briefly shifted to Oswald, who somehow didn't notice them.

"Huh, wasn't that Oswald?" Clyde turned to Lincoln.

"Yeah," Lincoln nodded, "Wonder where he's off to."

"Do you think we should follow him? He seems to be in a hurry."

"Maybe, let's go and check."

Somewhere else, a conflict seems to have risen between two people. One of them was Julius, who was staring down at… A Commander. Similar to Tentavros, the primary color he sported on his armor was purple. Only difference being the marking style on his suit and the lack of cape. He also wore the complete set, with gauntlets, instead of gloves.

This Commander also had his helmet undone, revealing a face much similar to Tentavros', of course, with many differences despite the similarities.

"…Jarvhool." Julius sternly spoke the Commander's name.

Chapter Ends.

* * *

There it is, the instigator of the next big arc.

Not much really happened, obviously. To be honest as well, I am having problems with scenes that would usually give off a normal or casual vibe.

Anyway, Chapter 31 will be out soon with more progression on the story.


	31. Another One

**A/N: Due to this chapter's heavy focus on the Outsiders, this and the next chapter will be posted sooner than usual. Then, following that, it will be back to the normal upload time on weekends.**

Chapter 31.

* * *

Outside a rather plain-looking cafe in town, two people sat in front of each other. The two had been discussing about something for the past few hours by now and were now just waiting for a third person to join up with them.

"You know, being surrounded by people on a day like this is pretty good sometimes, don't you think so, Julius?" Zed asked, sipping on a cup of coffee as he looked around after breaking the ice.

"Yeah, just wish we could do better so days like this can come quicker." Answered the teen while leaning back on his seat, receiving a nod from Zed as he said that.

"So, how's progress on that mind scrambling gel?" Zed asked again.

Taking a deep breath and putting his hands on the table, Julius replied, "It's going good, doesn't really hold much relevance to things right now. Though I am confused, why would they resort to using a primitive method?"

"Didn't you see? That was exactly what happened to Lincoln's parents," Zed looked at his now empty mug before looking back at Julius, "They wanted them to stay down all while utilizing the scrambler's mental overload feature to get the kids and anyone else affected to start having too much thoughts. They're trying to make those guys disoriented. Honestly, I'm also worried about that kid. He used the belt under the influence of that gel too."

"Infusing a mind scrambler into their grenades. Brilliant, to say the least. And dastardly." Julius remarked.

"That's just one thing they'd do. I mean, who knows? Maybe there are many more ways they can make their plan work this time. What with Barzal leading the Commanders." Zed's expression changed to a much more serious one just by thinking about the aforementioned Commander.

"Well, we'll just have to keep going on then at this point."

"Yeah."

"Exactly as you said, Julius." A voice spoke up to the teen.

While Zed heard nothing, not that he can, Julius looked like he had just seen a ghost, beads of sweat fell down his face. Zed of course, noticed this and was just about to ask Julius what was wrong until the people around them began panicking.

In that short moment, Julius got up and turned to where the voice was. Zed, currently incapable of keeping up accordingly, only backed away from his seat. He did see who Julius was reacting to in such a manner.

Soon, all eyes were on the Commander standing casually in front of Julius. Zed, not wanting to risk anyone getting hurt, began leading the people away from the scene. Which, he did without much problem as the Commander simply stared down at Julius.

Zed ran to the teenager's side soon after and despite being unable to do anything of significance, he tried to guard Julius. Stepping in should this Commander try doing something.

"…Jarvhool." Julius stated.

"Who?" Zed quietly asked Julius, who was beginning to form a fist.

"What are you doing here?" Julius said to Jarvhool, ignoring Zed's question.

"Easy there, I'm only here to see how far you've gone, my child." The Commander spoke in a calm tone, at least more so when compared to the previous ones.

"Well, not far. Last I checked, it's only been a year and a half." Julius sternly replied, putting up two fingers, the other however only raised halfway through.

The sound of a roaring motorcycle engine soon caught their attention. It grew louder and louder until they could all see that in the distance, someone was approaching them. Soon enough, the outline of the person was visible enough to make out who it was.

Oswald. Slicing through the air with his ride, came closer to the trio standing outside the deserted cafe. He quickly turned the bike and halted its' movement. Turning to look at the Commander, he took off his helmet and stuck it onto the handle. He kept quiet for a moment before turning off the engine as he got off the bike.

Jarvhool only smiled as he was then gestured to keep talking by Oswald. So he did, turning first towards Julius with his hands behind him. The man behind him only watched and keep guard just in case he tried anything, though, he could feel that's not going to be the problem here.

"Now then, shall we?" Asked Jarvhool, tilting his head in question.

"Alright, what else have you got?" Zed answered when Julius simply glared at the Commander without letting a word out.

"I'm also here to talk about Barzal," He began, looking around cautiously, and raising a hand to stop Zed from saying anything, "I believe that someone here has caught his attention. More than they would bargain for."

"Why is that?" Zed asked while keeping calm due to the three of them knowing exactly who was being referred to.

"If left unchecked, that someone would eventually grow enough to possess power that should be capable of matching against his own," Jarvhool explained, chuckling shortly after, "And you know how he is."

Zed, knowing what else Jarvhool was hinting at, smiled and chuckled along, "Of course. But really, why are you here?"

"I'm here to offer my help, to you guys."

Zed raised an eyebrow at the proposal and exchanged looks with Oswald, who too was confused at that.

"Excuse me, Jarvhool?" Zed waved a hand at the Commander, getting his attention, "What is it that you're trying to say exactly?"

"Exactly what I said."

"Huh."

Oswald was just about to throw in his opinion on the matter but as fate would have it, he sensed the presence of a couple of people. Children, in fact.

"You mean that kid?" Said the Englishman to the alien in their area, pointing to the direction where he sensed them.

Jarvhool looked on in the distance where Oswald was pointing to and soon enough, the person Oswald mentioned and the topic of the conversation, made his and his companion's presence known to everyone.

"Clyde, over there!" Lincoln pointed at Oswald who was looking at them both.

"I-I see him!" Clyde said between breaths, struggling to keep up with the surprisingly more energetic Lincoln.

The closer they got however, the more they saw what they wished wouldn't come again so soon. Lincoln soon came to a stop when he saw Jarvhool standing in the middle of their three acquaintances.

"What… What is that thing doing here?" Lincoln asked, pointing at Jarvhool as he cautiously walked closer to the group.

"I take it you're the boy with the belt?" Jarvhool spoke to the boy.

"Yeah? What about it?"

"Good luck, things will no longer be easy from now on." Jarvhool said, receiving a nod from Lincoln.

As soon as their conversation ended, Zed's phone rang, which the man picked up quickly. The moment he placed it near his ear, he was bombed with info and not far into the call, the person behind the call then warned him of something coming down fast from the sky. The sound of something crashing was then heard, prompting Zed to put on a serious expression and look at Oswald, who picked up his message and quickly got back onto his bike, riding off to the scene.

"Ah, seems someone else has begun their attack," Jarvhool simply said, watching as Oswald took off, "Don't you think you should be going too, Julius?"

"No." Said the teen, prompting the Commander to look at him.

"Wait, Julius, come on!" Lincoln gestured Julius to come along.

"Julius… Is this who you were talking about?" Clyde asked, receiving a nod from Julius, "But, I thought you hold some respect for him."

"I didn't say that." Julius stepped forward, getting ready to transform.

"What are you doing?" Zed walked closer to Julius, putting a hand on the teen's shoulder.

"Zed, you best go on along with Lincoln and his friend there. I have something to settle with Jarvhool."

Shaking Zed's hand off, Julius walked towards Jarvhool as he pointed his transformation device skywards, thus blasting the armor materializing circle. The process went on smoothly as Jarvhool quietly watched as Julius completed his transformation.

"Do you really want to challenge me that badly?"

A punch from Julius, which was easily sidestepped by the Commander, answered his question.

"Very well, kid, you go ahead with Zed and your friend to the city."

Lincoln was hesitant to go, until of course, both Zed and Clyde convinced him to go. The boy then ran off with both his friends having a few meters head start. Still worried about what will happen between the other two, he glanced behind to look at them and sighed before he began outrunning his companions, who both shouted for him to slow down.

Meanwhile, Oswald was already there, morphed and ready to face off against whatever is causing trouble. The people there had already been evacuated thanks to the police's help. He waited for the smoke to clear off a bit before he could see what he is about to face off against. Seeing two figures walking closer to him, he could finally deduce who was asking for trouble.

"Korax." He uttered the name of the Commander.

Chapter End.

* * *

There's Chapter 31. Had some modifications done so it wouldn't be too weird. I'm sorry that I used the same way to end the chapter as I did with the last one.

Like usual, Chapter 32 will be coming out soon.


	32. Street Fighting

Chapter 32.

* * *

Julius continued throwing punch after punch towards Jarvhool, only to have them dodged without much effort, fueling further to his frustration.

"Julius, calm down!" Jarvhool asked of the teen.

But there was no answer. The teenager continued delivering quick attacks, despite the armor's bulk, and eventually decided to get a weapon.

He pulled out the disc plating on his back and have it materialize the Lancer, throwing the disc at Jarvhool, who needed only to raise his forearm to deflect it back at Julius, who caught the disc back and hold it by the newly-implemented handle at the attachment part and pressed a button which opens up a part around the disc's edge, revealing and extending a sharp ring. The second press of the button had the ring spin rapidly, much like a buzzsaw, except with simpler blades.

Jarvhool, feeling rather amazed at the level of technological growth that Julius has managed to reach, only sighed in annoyance, knowing that his trouble would only increase by this point.

[]

Meanwhile, back with Oswald, he's been left to deal with both Korax and his Elite. Korax alone wasn't much of a challenge, but him having brought along his image-spawn only made things difficult for him. Korax's Elite is unlike the previous two as his is directly controlled by him through a mental link. This means that every time he dodges an attack from one, he would be vulnerable to the other's attack.

Would have been much easier if he had his speed. But alas, he had found it difficult to tap into it once more. Maybe it's because of him having overextending himself at that time when he was fighting against Tentavros.

Nevertheless, he's having trouble dealing with two at the same time without his speed. Might as well learn how Lincoln and Julius sees things and just, deal with it. Easier said than done, obviously. Considering how long he's been reliant on that thing.

Korax then proceeds to pummel the seemingly helpless bug-man in conjunction with his Elite, successfully connecting every attack performed. He wasted no time in trying to take down Oswald. But as everyone's come to learn something about that man, it's that he will not go down without a fight.

Just as Korax and what is basically his mirrored clone threw another punch, Oswald caught both their fists using his right hand to catch one to his left and vice versa. Using their surprise, Oswald pulled both his hands and sent both the Commander and his Elite crashing towards each other.

Having made a way for him to strike back, Oswald backed away before delivering a powerful kick that threw the two back by several meters. Feeling that this opportunity should not be wasted, Oswald quickly ran around the two with his hand dug into the ground. Coming to a stop after making an oval with the two on one end, he raised his leg and performed a heel drop onto the oval, launching the two into the air.

Picking up the piece of the street that acted as launching pad, he infused it with his energy and altered its' shape to a large spear. He pointed his arm towards the still airborne Hexon leaders, he threw the makeshift spear as hard as he could and had it detonate mid-air, blowing the two to a far side of the town.

He then put up a fighting stance and waited for the two to come back down. The fight wasn't over yet.

His intuition proved him correct when an entire building was sent flying towards him. Sensing multiple life signatures from inside, he acted quick and jumped towards the "projectile" and caught it with his hands. He grunted when he landed and placed the building on his back for extra support as he slowly crouched down and placed the building down in the middle of the road.

He could then see a group of people from various floors of the building looking out through the window, looking dazed and nauseous. Not wanting to risk their lives further, he gestured for them to get away as quickly as possible, which they complied to.

[]

"Come on, guys!" Lincoln ushered the now tired Clyde with Zed too trying to catch his breath, jogging in place, "We have to get to Oswald, quick!"

"I know… Lincoln… But please… You gotta take it easy…!" Clyde panted, struggling to get his words out due to exhaustion.

"Yeah man… If anything… We should bet our hopes on him!" Zed too tried to get Lincoln from getting too worked up, "Besides, your augmentations… Are really the ones helping you… Do all these you know?"

Lincoln wasn't really having all that right now, he didn't think of stopping once as he continued to jog in place. He was just worried, is all. About what? About not being able to help out.

"I know, but what if something else happens?" Lincoln grew more and more worried, "Like what happened back at the beach?"

"Unlikely, Lincoln. They won't try the same trick once. If anything, they'd probably do something worse…." Zed trailed off for a moment before adding one last thing, "Oh my God."

After that, Zed lifted up Clyde, who was surprised to say the least, and placed him on his back. Pointing forward, he began running towards the direction Oswald is. Lincoln, more than happy to know that Zed now sees the urgency of the situation, followed his teacher not far behind.

Along the way, Clyde couldn't help but think about Julius. Why would he be fighting against the person he had talked to him about? It sounded to him that Julius meant no ill will, but now that things have gone the way they are, there is nothing else he could have done but wait for the situation to calm down.

Sometimes, the boy could not help but think about how bad things have become. These people might just be the death of him.

[]

Julius yelled as he threw the bladed disc towards Jarvhool, who easily deflected the weapon. Much to the teen's annoyance, as shown when he growled the moment his attack failed yet again. He'd stop and try to analyze the situation, as he once tried to, but this time, he felt that defeating Jarvhool through pure skill alone should ensure a much more satisfying victory.

However, Jarvhool is very quick on his feet, every time Julius throws an attack towards him, he would easily dodge or deflect them. Thinking that the battle might drag on for too long, Jarvhool employs an easy method for him to finish this up quick.

"Julius, please, try to put some effort into things will you?" He remarked on his opponent's failure in dealing any sort of damage, "You do realize that it's embarrassing for someone to start a challenge, only for them to fail right?"

The teenager however, kept quiet on Jarvhool's comment, and continued to rush forward to try and get some hits on him. This tactic is far too familiar to him by now.

"…Do you know why exactly you're doing this, Julius?" Jarvhool asked as he dodged attacks left and right.

"Do tell me, Jarvhool." Julius smirked while swinging the Lancer towards the Commander which, like most of his attacks that's gotten within range, never actually hit.

"…Is it still because of your home?"

"Yep." Julius answered without much care, or so it seems as his lips then began quivering.

"Then stop this."

"I can't," Julius shook his head while forcing a smile, "Not until I can prove to you that I can defend my own world."

"You can do that some other time."

"But I'd like to do it now."

"You know that was the only way I could save you, right?" Jarvhool stopped in his tracks while Julius charged at him.

However, nothing else happened. Julius had also come to a stop, ready to strike down Jarvhool as he stood motionless. He had the chance to finish off his opponent, but it looks like something else is preventing him.

Within moments, Julius lowered his weapons and began gripping them tightly until his hands began shaking.

"This fight is over." Jarvhool declared.

[]

After a long run, Lincoln stopped to see Oswald back to struggling against his opponents. He wasted no time and began morphing into his suit. Just as he was about to jump into action, Zed told the boy to wait.

"What?" Lincoln turned to see a worried Zed, placing Clyde on the ground before sighing.

"Good luck."

Giving only a thumbs up, Lincoln assured Zed, and by extension, Clyde, the boy runs off to join a potentially losing battle.

Dazed and disoriented, Oswald staggered around as he received hits after hits, each one only making it harder for him to think of something. But at least it didn't stop him from thinking to himself.

" _How the balls did this guy suddenly become this strong?_ " He thought. No, it wasn't because of him being unable to keep up with them, he knew that something was off.

He then clumsily tried to dodge the incoming attacks from the duo before he was eventually taken off-guard with a hard knock on the back of his neck. Or rather, his spinal cord. Left to fall forward, Oswald was then grabbed by the head and received multiple knee strikes to his face, further sending the man to a state of confusion.

Korax and his Elite backed away, taking their time appreciating their handiwork, before charging up their fists with swirling silver energy. The two then rushed forward to strike the final blow on the slowly recovering Oswald.

However, the timely intervention by Lincoln, who jumped between the two just in time to put up his shield and break off the attack. The properties of his shield reflecting their own attacks back towards the pair, leaving them reeling back in pain. Also giving Lincoln the chance to tend to Oswald.

"Hey, you okay?" Lincoln crouched next to the man.

"Yeah, I'll be fine." Oswald replied while holding his head and hissing in pain.

"Alright you two, time's up!" Lincoln pointed defiantly towards the two attackers, "It's time to deal out, some justice!"

The boy smiled from behind his visor while holding up two fingers held closely together, imitating the comic book hero Ace Savvy's signature pose, thus declaring the second stage of their fight once he undid the dome.

Chapter Ends.

* * *

I honestly don't know how to treat that thing Lincoln did from "Sleuth or Consequences", I'm just gonna assume that it's Ace Savvy's signature pose. Which, at this point, may no longer need questioning.

Anyway, that was Chapter 32, by the time you're reading this, I should be working on Chapter 50 or so by then.

And as I would usually close things, Chapter 33 will be out soon.


	33. Going past the limit

**A/N: Alright, this is the end of our little upload spree. A little bit of heads up, at this point, the reboot process should have already begun. So, there's that.**

Chapter 33.

* * *

Lincoln slowly walked around the Commander and his Elite, cautiously eyeing them as he made his way to their back, hoping that he could get their full attention so that they would focus solely on him and get Oswald out of their sights.

Frankly, he is still unsure on whether he can really take on them alone. Hoping only for the best, Lincoln leaped forward and summoned two small shields as a means of defense should he not be able to keep up in the actual exchanges between attacks.

Thankfully, he got lucky enough to land the first hit by smacking Korax in the face using his shield and reflexively ducking under a punch which he followed up by slamming one of his shield onto the Elite's stomach, sending the two growling and groaning in pain while they clutched the area they were hit.

Lincoln, now feeling more confident after seeing that things may not be so bad now, once more jumped forward to take the chance and proceeded to unleash a barrage of light attacks, putting into play his lightly built body and experience in surviving amidst the tornado of chaos that is his family. He then ended his combo by summoning a smaller version of his protective dome which pointed outwards, encasing his fist.

"Alright!" Lincoln yelled as he quickly carried himself towards the duo as fast as his augmented body could, and threw a hard punch whilst declaring, "This is the end!"

Coincidentally, the Elite was aligned just right behind Korax, so when the Commander took the punch square in his face, the force of the attack pushed him backwards, crashing him onto his Elite.

The crash sent the two falling down onto the floor and left them vulnerable, however, Lincoln didn't attack just yet, instead, he simply watched as the Commander and the Elite both struggled to properly recover from the attack. Shown by their attempts to get back on their feet, only to fall back down moments later.

After a moment of pain and dizziness, Korax's focus finally came back to him. He growled when his eyes had finally adjusted, he then thought to himself for a quick moment, "You're lucky, kid. Thank your friends that everyone's-"

Friends. That word kept ringing in his head. If it wasn't for his visor, everyone in the area would have seen how wide his grin was. A wide, malice-filled grin.

[]

The only two spectators watched as Lincoln quickly gained the upper hand in the battle, leaving both of them awestruck. That's saying a lot considering how casually Zed reacts to most situations. Though, that's only when he's actually around. If there is one things the man feels about Lincoln right now, it would be pride.

Clyde however, was beginning to feel tense. He was so when the battle first started, but it gradually worsened. For some reason, he wasn't feeling it for Lincoln, nor Oswald. This tension building up inside him soon became worry. He is worried about Zed and, himself. Which was made apparent as to why that was so.

In the blink of an eye, Korax had disappeared from his line of sight and was heading straight for him with claws extended. Of course, being a normal human being, Clyde could not do much about it. Thankfully, Zed managed to push him out of the way, thanks to his alarmingly fast movement speed.

Despite Zed's intervention, it still didn't do much as Korax slashed at the last second. Clyde's leg had been damaged and Zed himself was tackled with great force, sending him flying through a nearby building wall.

"Zed!"

"Clyde!"

Both Oswald and Lincoln cried out in unison.

Clyde held his leg in pain while trying to recover from it. He looked to where Zed had been sent crashing into and turned again to see Korax walking straight towards… Him. The geeky boy hopelessly inched away before he was grabbed by the throat and lifted off the ground with as much effort as a human being would exert to lift up an apple.

Gasping for air, Clyde tried clawing on Korax's hand and soon felt pressure building up around his neck. Korax had begun strangling him.

Lincoln tried to stop the Commander as soon as possible, but the Elite intervened. Him getting caught off-guard was enough for his opponent to deliver a powerful uppercut that sent him staggering backwards, where he would then be locked in a full-nelson.

Oswald, still haven't fully recovered from his injuries yet, decided to not waste anymore time and just get on with it.

The Elite noticed this and threw Lincoln towards him, forcing Oswald to catch him and leave himself and by extension, Lincoln, open to attacks. First, it was him, the Elite had made its' way behind him and kicked him on the back of his knees, causing him to forcefully kneel down with Lincoln still in his hands. The next, was Lincoln, whom the Elite kicked at the back of his away from Oswald's reach, who then received a kick to the face in which the force of made him land hard on the ground.

Rolling to his front, Lincoln tried to get back up, but the pain from the kick made it nearly impossible to do so. He could only hold his head, trying to fight off the pain. His vision was starting to blur, and the only thing he could see when he lifted his head, was the Elite walking towards him, three of them. Presumably an effect from the attack.

As the Elite got dangerously close, Lincoln could only try to protect himself by holding up his hands, finding out soon however, that his head wasn't exactly the Armored Hexon's target. He could then feel great pain on his stomach down as he was kicked on his belt, forcing him to morph out of his suit.

[]

Korax, having taken the time to enjoy Lincoln's beatdown, looked back to Clyde, who was starting to lose consciousness as well.

"It's time to end your suffering, boy." He said before laughing madly as he began putting more pressure into his grip.

The pain was far too much, and Clyde wanted to scream so badly, but all that he could let out by now were nothing more than choking sounds.

" _This is it then…. Huh?_ " Clyde thought to himself, his eyes were beginning to roll and narrow. Another thought then struck his mind, causing him to shed some tears, "I'm… Scared…"

Korax however, wanted to enjoy this a bit longer. Doing so by loosening his grip to allow the boy to catch his breath for several seconds, before tightening it again. This torturous moment went on for much longer than the young boy could take, nearly driving him insane.

Several meters away from them, Lincoln helplessly watched as he lay on the ground, clutching his stomach. He reached out his hand, wishing so desperately for something, or someone to help them.

He closed his eyes and began filling with worry, anger and sadness. All of them sourced at the thought of losing his friend. He wanted it to stop. He'd take Clyde's place even if it means he was the one who would have to go through all that Korax had in mind for them.

Wishing only that he has the power to do so, he closed his eyes and started whimpering. Soon, it turned to audible sobs.

Before long, a loud yell came from two other who had just arrived at the fight. This caught the attention of both the Commander and his Elite.

Korax's Elite had a spear thrown towards it, which it caught easily, only for it to be hit mercilessly with Julius' bladed disc. Its' attacker was none other than, of course, Julius himself who glared at it.

Korax himself was caught off-guard by Julius' counterattack, leaving him vulnerable to the attack by another Commander. It was Jarvhool, who lashed on his wrist using energy whips, forcing him to let go of Clyde. He held his wrist in pain and looked over to Jarvhool who was just retracting his whips to a shorter length.

The white-armored Commander tried to attack Clyde once more before the indigo-colored Commander once more got to him using his whips. Only this time, Korax found that both his hands have been tied together.

"Oh dear, NOOOO-" Korax dragged on yelling out the "o" as he was tossed all around the battlefield by one of his own comrades. If Jarvhool can be called that.

Jarvhool finally ended his assault when he slammed Korax onto the streets. Also, because he'd sensed something else. Something that felt like it's rising and just about to explode.

Seeing that the traitor had his focus somewhere else, Korax decided that there was nothing more he could do but flee once more.

Julius, who was just about to deal the finishing blow on Korax's Armored Hexon, the Commander sped past him, prompting him to look back on Jarvhool who seemed to be focusing on something else.

"What are you doing?" The teen asked.

But the indigo-armored Commander only raised his hand before placing two fingers on his forehead, trying to pinpoint the location of this strange new energy before he shifted his eyes onto the boy lying not far behind Julius.

"What?" Julius questioned, turning to look behind him to see Lincoln.

It wasn't just that. The two found what was happening to him once the boy got up. The moment he opened his eyes, the others were forced to shield their eyes as Lincoln projected a bright orange-colored light from his eyes.

Lincoln shouted to the sky above and had once more, morphed in his suit. He continued to let out all his anger as a pillar of light began forming around him. The pillar disappeared moments later to reveal Lincoln again, only this time, the orange colors of his suit looked more vibrant, and instead of looking like they were extra accessories, the gloves and boots were now integrated as part of his suit.

" _A complete merger?_ " Jarvhool thought to himself before shaking his head, " _No, not yet._ "

The Commander then heard a groan coming from a newly awakened Oswald, whom he then came to the aid of.

"What's going on?" Oswald asked, as if he knew something happened, "It felt like something poked into my mind, telling me to wake up."

The Commander beside him gave no response and instead, only pointed at Lincoln.

"Did something happen to him?" The man asked once more. However, he didn't need anyone to answer him as he found it himself, "Zed told me that the belt was more of a symbiote. Did the merging process continued?"

"It would appear so." Jarvhool finally replied.

"Mr. Abe! Come on, wake up!" Clyde's voice was heard, who then coughed as he still haven't fully recovered from the strangling.

"What happened here?" Jarvhool ran up to the boy, with Oswald walking slowly towards them. He turned to the hole and saw the unconscious man laying both above and beneath a pile of bricks, "Oh."

"Where's Lincoln?" Clyde asked.

"Your friend is over there." Jarvhool pointed to where Lincoln was.

The Loud boy slowly walked towards the panicking Elite, who backed off until it finally turned around to start running. Only for it to find that it was too late, as Lincoln threw one of his buzzsaw shield and struck it on the back. Lincoln then charged forward and threw a punch to the Elite's face, staggering it.

He balled up his fist and brought it close to his belt and began charging it up with the same orange-colored energy, and much like the color of his suit, it was much more vibrant than before and threw his fist forward as hard as he can, hitting the Elite on its' chest, which severely hurt it.

"Julius?" Lincoln finally spoke up.

"Y-Yeah?" Julius was still astonished at Lincoln's newly awoken powers.

"You still have the Knuckler with you?"

"My disc can fit two items in it so, yeah." He answered before materializing the requested weapon on his bladed disc and threw it to Lincoln, who caught it.

"You're not whoever that commander is, but you should be enough." Lincoln angrily growled at the Elite while putting on the Knuckler.

Once again, the boy began charging the weapon with both its' implemented charge system and using his own energy to further empower it. He then let out a loud yell as he began running towards the now helpless Armored Hexon and shouted, "Eat this!" as he finally threw his fist towards its' face. Then, silence. Which soon changed to the Elite lighting up with orange-lights projected from all its' limbs, including its' face. The light continued to intensify before it finally exploded in a rising pillar of energy which parted away large parts of the clouds above them.

Jarvhool then protected Clyde from the incoming shockwave. Thankfully, it all ended soon enough to see that Lincoln was well and alive despite the energy he had just released from destroying the Armored Hexon.

"Ough, what in the…. _Apa hal?_ " Zed mumbled as he finally got up, groaning from the pain he's feeling in his head.

Jarvhool and Clyde noticed that and looked to the man confusedly. What did he just say?

"What's that?" The two asked in unison.

"Oh, nothing," Zed held his hands up before he crawled out of the building, "So, who won?"

Jarvhool and Clyde looked at each other before turning to look at Lincoln while pointing at him. Zed continued to crawl towards the two to get a good view on the boy and once he got his eyes on him, he couldn't help but smile.

Looks like the day is won, and that Lincoln has shown the first sign of a significant power growth within him.

Chapter Ends.

* * *

And so, another battle is won.

That's all for this chapter, hopefully, we'll get to explore more next time.

As my usual closure goes, Chapter 34 will be out soon.


	34. Calling it a day

Chapter 34.

* * *

The clouds of smoke cleared up quickly, revealing Lincoln in the middle of the explosion's epicenter. The Loud boy then looked around him before raising his hands to his eyes, taking a long, good look at his newly modified suit. After that, he placed his hand on the helmet and ran it down his head, feeling the smooth texture of his refined helmet.

"Hey, Lincoln!" A voice called out to him.

The boy then turned to see who it was and saw Clyde waving at him, standing alongside his other companions. He started walking towards them and subconsciously placed a hand in front of his belt and swiped away, morphing him out of the suit. His action looked 'cool' in their eyes, followed soon by a round of silent, but amazed, "Ooh". Sans Oswald, now out of his suit, and Jarvhool, both of whom only raised their eyebrows.

Lincoln finally came to a stop a few meters in front of them, sporting a smile in his face.

"Well, how did I do?" He asked, spreading his arms outwards, his smile turned to a grin.

A few seconds of silence was then broken when Oswald chuckled lightly, followed soon by Clyde, Zed and Julius running up to Lincoln's side. The former hopping slowly before Zed carried him on his back again. Jarvhool shook his head and slowly walked towards the boy.

Lincoln then had his hair ruffled up by Zed, which Julius joined in with shortly after. Once those were done, he and Clyde then shared a fist bump after the latter was placed on the ground. He was also patted on the back by Zed.

"Very good, boy." Jarvhool congratulated him as he walked towards him, with his hands placed together. He then held out a name, expecting a handshake while asking, "What is your name?"

His expectation was then met when Lincoln returned the gesture, answering him in the process, "The name's Lincoln Loud."

"Jarvhool." Smiled the Commander.

"Alright, now why don't we all go home?" Zed suggested.

"I'll catch up with you guys later." Oswald said to his acquaintance while pointing at the one abnormality on the street. An entire building.

"Why don't I help you with that?" Jarvhool offered, receiving a nod from Oswald.

Watching as those two walk away from them to get to the detached building, the rest waved goodbye before they too made their way to their destination.

"Well, I'll be off too." Julius bade, doing the 'so long' gesture as he took off.

"Right then." Zed nodded.

"Hey Clyde." Lincoln called his friend, looking at his injured leg.

"Yeah?" The geeky boy replied, noticing Lincoln now staring at his leg, "Oh that, yeah it hurts but-"

"Up we go then." Zed interrupted him by carrying the boy on his back for the third time.

With that, Zed and the boys walked off to their destination, his car. All the way back at the cafe. Hopefully Julius hadn't destroyed that yet.

"Oswald?" Jarvhool spoke up.

"Yeah?"

"I hope you can deliver this message to Zed soon, I have to stop Korax from leaking info of my betrayal." The Commander requested.

"Go on."

[]

Thankfully, Zed's car wasn't too badly damaged, there were some dents around the trunk and some slash damages around the door. But overall, the vehicle was still working properly, and because of that, Zed had safely dropped Lincoln in front of his house, where the two said their goodbyes.

Lincoln however didn't get to enjoy the silence for much longer as his family came bursting out the door, running towards him, asking if he was okay, if anything's happened to him and getting bear hugged to near-death as he would usually get it.

The sight got Zed laughing heartily before he waved goodbye to the Louds, who all thanked him as he drove away.

Once the man was out of their sights, the Loud family all went back into their humble, if chaotic, abode.

[]

Zed's drive went rather quiet once it was only Clyde left at the back. He noticed that he seemed occupied at the moment.

Clyde looked out the window, not fully aware of things as he was lost in his thoughts. One particular event came back to his head, prompting him to slowly move his hand towards his neck, only for him to remember the sensation of being strangled. Going on for so long, without anyone coming to his aid. He couldn't really blame anyone on it, really. He didn't want to.

The difficulty in trying to breathe suddenly came back to him, as he was then breathing loudly, with occasional whimpers. He was just about to hyperventilate as tears began running down his cheek before Zed stopped the car.

"Clyde!" Zed called out, snapping the boy out of his mind.

Gasping, Clyde found that he could finally breathe properly again. He rapidly darted his eyes to and fro before they landed on Zed's worried face.

Breathing a sigh of relief, Zed made his way to the back seat and wrapped his arm around Clyde to calm him down. He waited for a few seconds before he started talking.

"What was that?"

"…It's nothing, really." Clyde answered, wiping away his tears.

"It's not nice to lie."

Upon hearing that, Clyde looked away for a moment before sighing, "Alright, when you guys were down… He got me."

"That Commander?" Zed quirked a brow as he correctly guessed, shown when Clyde nodded, "What happened?"

Clyde kept his lips shut, feeling it hard to share it even with Zed. He did however, gave a hint by placing his hands around his neck, closing his eyes in the process.

"I see." Zed nodded before looking up to find the right words to say to him. He got one a few moments later and looked back to the scared boy next to him, "Look, what I say next won't amount to much, but I want you to stay strong about this, alright?"

Clyde however, looked at his teacher questioningly.

"I mean, if there's one thing you could learn from that, it's that that Commander was nothing more than a coward who would use anything or anyone to his advantage," Zed paused, thinking for a moment before adding, "Besides, you're Lincoln's friend. What does that have to do with anything? It's that you most definitely share some traits with him. That being you guys' ability to keep calm under stress. Think of all that's happened today as one big test."

"But, you're you, and Lincoln's… Who he is now." Clyde said, still feeling unsure.

Zed smiled and answered, "You know what? I think I see another part of you now, you're still human. Pure human. That means you're fragile yes, but you also hold the capacity to further push yourself beyond your limits. The pain may still be around now, but you will soon find, that you have grown out of that."

Silence. That was what befell the two. For a short moment, Clyde was still trying to absorb Zed's message, then lit up as he finally got it. Followed by him hugging Zed, tears once more running down his face, only now, they were of joy in his newfound strength.

"Thank you." Said the boy.

Zed then wiped his own tears when his words finally got to Clyde, returning the hug while saying, "You're welcome, buddy."

The two then let go and kept quiet for a short moment before Zed finally spoke up again.

"Now, let's get you home." Zed said, pointing towards the passenger seat up front with his thumb.

"Aye-aye Mr. Abe, let's go!" Clyde happily replied.

The two then got out of the car and moved to the front seats. Restarting the engine, Zed waited for it to heat up for a while before driving off again.

It was another long drive before Zed finally hit up a good conversation topic, "So," He began, getting Clyde's attention, "How's that girl?"

"Who?"

"That one girl who had been hanging around with you guys, I haven't seen her lately. How's she doing?"

"Oh, Ronnie Anne?" Clyde said before placing a finger on his chin while he thought about it, "Come to think of it, I haven't really seen her since the beach."

"Oh?" Zed glanced at Clyde for a moment before setting them back on the road, "Anyway, what's the deal with her and you guys? Or specifically, Lincoln?"

"Honestly?" The boy said before shrugging as he added, "I'm not sure myself. She and Lincoln are mostly on good terms, but whether they're closer than that or not is still beyond me."

Zed nodded at the boy's reply before smiling mischievously.

Clyde then went back to looking out the window, watching as the streetlights began lighting up once the sun's light had dimmed out. He looked at whatever houses they passed by before he realized something, "Wait, how are we going to explain things to my parents?"

Zed's smile soon disappeared when he heard that. If he wasn't wrong, Clyde's parents yelled at him the last time he was out with him.

"Huh…"

It wasn't for much longer when they finally arrived at the McBride residence, where two men waited anxiously outside their house, looking to the sky with their eyes closed as if they were praying. Well, looks like their prayers were answered. Though, they were left with a sour taste when they saw who else their child was with, and his condition.

Zed, trying hard to keep himself calm, walked with Clyde to his parents. He said to Clyde that he shouldn't worry but it seems that he is the one who's about to break down to a panic attack.

"Dads!" Clyde greeted them with a nervous smile, still hopping on one leg while Zed supported him.

"Clyde! Oh dear! What happened to you? Come on!" One of them worriedly said, a tall, red-haired man who brought Clyde into the house and started talking to him.

This then left a nervous Zed and a silent, glaring Harold, who waited for a response from the man.

"Okay," Zed broke the ice, "I know you said that I should not be anywhere near your son but-"

"No, no, it's okay." Said Harold, holding his hands up.

"Really?"

"Yes," He nodded, "I can see that you have a penchant for dragging people to danger."

Zed lowered his head and rubbed his arm upon hearing that, "Oh geez, sorry for that." He simply said.

"So, why not change the deal?" Harold proposed, "Instead of staying away from him, I ask of you, to keep him safe from any type of harm."

Zed looked to the house where both Clyde and the man, Howard, were standing in while they both watched the conversation between him and Harold. Remembering Clyde's predicament, he nodded and answered with great confidence.

"Yes sir, we will make sure that no harm is to come to your child."

"Thank you." Harold said before waving him goodbye.

Zed backed away while pointing at them with the finger gun gesture before he got back into his car and waved at them one last time, then driving off into the night.

Along the road to his house, he spotted Oswald standing beside his bike. Curious as to what he might be doing, Zed exited out of his car and walked up to the man silently, he then surprised him with a loud yell as he smacked him on the shoulder.

"What the…" Oswald said as he rubbed his shoulder, "Come on, don't do that."

"Ha ha, good to see you too buddy. So, what have you got this time?"

"Well, Jarvhool did tell me to send this to you so…"

"What is it?" Zed waited, leaning closer to Oswald as he gestured him to do so.

"This…" Oswald said before punching Zed square in the face, sending him staggering backwards with a bleeding nose, "Now, for the real news."

"O…Kay…" Zed said in a nosy tone, blocking off his nostril using his hand, which was deemed useless as he still bled profusely.

"It seems that Barzal's current goal is to cause chaos among us. How he is going to do that, I have no idea. Jarvhool didn't tell me on that."

"…Huh… You got a tissue?" Zed asked the man, who nonchalantly tossed a handkerchief at him. He groaned when he found out how dirty it was, "At least give me a clean one."

Just as he finished that, he found that Oswald's rode off already, leaving him alone and frustrated as he simply toughen up on things and shoved the handkerchief into his nose. He groaned again when he realized what the thing's been used for. Looks like the smell of oil will be staying with him throughout the night. Maybe check up on his teeth too.

Chapter Ends.

* * *

And there we go, Chapter 34. Complete with strange pacing.

Minor spoilers on what the following events would be, there's going to be a family event, a bit of a cheer up thing (Not with that character) and well, more.

Closing notes here and there… Chapter 35 will be coming out soon.


	35. Taking it easy

Chapter 35.

* * *

It was a regular morning at the Loud house, the family was just about to have breakfast after their usual chaotic routine once the siblings have all woken up. But to them, this was as normal as things could get.

Unlike most of the time where the family would have their meal on separate tables with the older sisters being at the grown up table along with their parents and Lincoln being with his younger sisters at the kiddie table. Though, this was because there was a lot to talk about. Especially after letting the Loud parents know about what else followed ever since they got knocked out.

"So, after the shelter was attacked, a guy in a suit of armor came and rescued everyone?" Rita recapped on what their children have told them.

"That's literally it." Lori said, glancing over to her younger siblings.

"Yeah, it was like, cool but at the same time scary." Leni spoke with her usual verbal tic.

"That's really hard to believe," Lynn Sr. chuckled while looking at his food, "I mean, that's a story straight out of a sci-fi movie."

"But that's really what happened dad!" Lincoln defensively claimed.

"I must remind that you both have also met the people we were talking about." Lisa monotonously stated.

"What, daddy-long-legs?" Their father jokingly referred to Oswald.

"Who?" His children all asked unison, except for Lily, who could only mumble it.

"You know? That tall Englishman? One of the armored guys that you kids talked about?" Shrugged the man of the house.

"Oh wait, now that you've mentioned it… Yeah, he was pretty tall," Luan raised a brow upon making her statement, "No wonder it felt weird when he's around, he exceeded all of us."

"Huh." Lincoln simply said, continuing on finishing his meal. How come he didn't notice that? He's the one who had been hanging out with those guys.

The whole family went quiet after that and went back to their breakfast, finishing them shortly after a few more round of small talks.

After their meals were done, Lincoln offered to help in washing the dishes, which Rita greatly appreciated.

"Thanks for helping me with the dishes, Lincoln, sorry that you had to do it."

"It's okay, mom," Lincoln shook his head, not minding the trouble at all, "Besides, I know you can't afford to miss work."

Rita smiled at his kindness and patted him on the head whilst saying, "Thanks anyway," Before she went off with one last note for her children, "You kids be good now, what with school being out."

"We will, mom!" The others shouted, waving goodbye to their parents, who soon took off with Vanzilla since they said that they won't be going anywhere, anytime soon.

Lincoln, having looked back to the living room, went back to finishing up the dishes and sorting them out before placing them into the right places. Once he was done with that, he took a moment to look out the window and gave a big toothy grin to, nobody in particular, he only felt like doing so as he was happy to have been able to spend some time with his family like today.

Before he could join up with his family though, his phone rang after receiving a message from someone. He took it out and saw that it was Clyde, who had left out a message regarding the Ace Savvy comic book issues that he has been missing out. He had nearly forgotten about that and sent a text back to his friend on why he forgot. Of course, the reason was none other than the fact they were attacked yesterday.

Waiting for a few moments after sending his text, Lincoln went to the living room with his face plastered onto the screen in a way that would make Lori proud, and being unaware enough that he would eventually bump into someone in a way that would make Leni seem like a person with average intelligence.

"Oof!" Luan said as Lincoln bumped into her, looking at him afterwards.

"Oh, sorry Luan, shoulda watched where I was going." Lincoln apologized.

"You better, cuz' you might just turn to both Lori and Leni." Luan joked, smiling widely afterwards. Ignorant of the glare Lori shot up on her from the couch, as well as Leni's confused look.

"Heh, yeah." Lincoln nervously smiled before making his way to one of the couch, where he finally got a reply from Clyde, telling him to not worry as he was still separating the older ones from the newer ones so he could pack them up for Lincoln to bring home later on.

After sending the last text, Lincoln put away his phone and sighed as he leaned on the couch he was sitting on. Of course, despite the current silence that the house was in as of the moment, it didn't last long as things soon got loud and rowdy as usual once more. Naturally, this did not bother Lincoln, not in the slightest.

Lori, who had been on her phone since even before their parents had left, lit up after she and whoever she had been texting with exchanged a few more messages before she got up and got to the door, stopping to turn back after somebody faked a cough behind her to get her attention. But there's a lot of people right now, in this instance, it was Luna who had done so.

"Where are you going, dudette?" The young rocker asked, a guitar in her hand.

"Oh, nothing. Bobby and I just wanted to spend some time together for once since he's free today and… You know?" Lori shrugged at the end.

"Oh, I get ya," Luna nodded at what Lori was implying about before looking at her guitar, "You know, I've been thinking about re-stringing my guitar anyway, so why don't I walk along with you until you get to him?" She offered.

"That, would be nice." Lori accepted her offer, not feeling like walking alone for once. Not that such was the case, since Vanzilla's usually available to her anyway.

"Oh, you guys, can I come too?" Leni asked as she ran up to her sisters with a magazine in her hand which she intended to show to them, and did so, "I just need to catch up with the latest fashion trends!"

Seeing that it can't be helped, Lori shook her head before cupping her mouth with one hand, "Alright, attention!"

As things would usually be, all her other siblings, except for Lincoln, came running down the stairs and lined up next to the staircase. Lori could only laugh when they saw them lining up like it was their parents' date night where she would then be left in charge.

"No, no, easy does it guys," She told them, which they did, "I was just going to ask if any of you guys would want to go anywhere."

"I guess I do have to restock on some of my props." Luan shrugged.

"Well, my roller derby team had planned a training today. Just not sure if it's happening." Lynn scratched her head, still unsure of things on her part.

"And I do need to need more things dark." Lucy spoke up, still managing to surprise everyone despite having joined up with her sisters earlier.

Following Lynn was Lana who made plans in going to the park so she could hang out with her friends, then it was Lola who asked to go with Leni to the Mall for reasons probably the same as the ditzy teen. The last one who's got plans in mind was Lisa, who planned to go into town and see if she could perform inspections on the area where Lincoln's battles happened. Of course, she didn't say that Lincoln was in any way involved in those.

"Lincoln, How about you?" Lori asked.

The boy took a few moment to think about it before he finally replied with a shrug, "I don't think I'm going anywhere for now. You guys can go ahead and have fun, I'll take care of Lily here."

"Alright then, we'll be off." Lori walked out the door while waving goodbye to her brother.

The others then followed soon after all doing the same, a gesture both Lincoln and Lily happily returned. Once they were all far enough, Lincoln walked back to the couch he was previously on with a bored expression. While he was sitting, Lily kept throwing her toys at him to get his attention, but the boy couldn't respond with much as he only let out a groan after a couple of throws or so.

The baby would eventually get bored in trying to get Lincoln's attention, leaving her to her own devices.

Lincoln watched as Lily crawled away to go back to playing with her toys and looked sympathetically at her. He sighed and decided that if he was to pass some time, he might as well spend those free time with someone else. With that, he got off the couch and walked up to Lily, crouching down next to her.

"Sorry, Lily, I was just bored I guess. So how about we play while I wait for Clyde?" He asked, receiving a happy smile from his baby sister.

A moment of surprisingly fun bonding time with his sister then ensued once he'd offered to play with her to pass the time. From one toy to another, they made the best of their time with it. Games by games, they continued to have fun without stopping even once, and their laughs grew louder and louder.

However, Lincoln may have been a bit too absent-minded while he was playing with Lily, so much so that he didn't even realize his phone was buzzing. He did pick it up eventually, placing it near his ear to answer whoever was on the other side. But of course, it was none other than Clyde.

"Hey, buddy!" Clyde called out from the other side.

"Oh, hey Clyde! What's up?" Lincoln asked, still not remembering what plans he's made.

"The comics?" Clyde said, waiting for things to hit Lincoln, which came shortly with a gasp from the buck-toothed boy.

"Oh man!" Lincoln began panicking as he restlessly paced around while smacking his head, "Sorry, buddy. I was caught up playing with Lily! You see, I had to look after her since all my other sisters are out, hang on-"

"Actually, you know what? You can come pick up the comics later," Clyde said understandingly, "Maybe I can even come over and hang out?"

Lincoln looked over to Lily before turning away again, "Huh, I guess that'd be cool. And thanks for understanding."

"Don't sweat it, Lincoln. I'll be right over." Clyde said before he hung up.

"Hear that, Lily? Clyde's gonna come over and hang out with us, that okay?" Lincoln crouched next to his baby sister and held her hands, before the youngest Loud happily flailed her arms around.

Well, maybe things will be better now. Besides, with Clyde around, they can probably do more than just play around with the toys. Perhaps they can enthuse to Lily on some of their interests?

Despite all this, there are still things happening out there. Chaos. Tragedy. Death. But then again, those are exactly the things that Lincoln would like to get his mind off as of late.

Chapter Ends.

* * *

There we go! Chapter 35!

I'm pretty sure by now, the placement of the episodes may seem weird, but I suppose integrating those parts into some of the later chapters or have them being off-screen events should do.

Next, Chapter 36, it will be a bit different, maybe short even, as we will take off from our usual protagonists.


	36. Connecting the pieces

Chapter 36.

* * *

On that same day at the police station, in the office of a certain officer, a sergeant sighed in exasperation. This officer had been working non-stop after the 8th case this morning had made its' way to his attention. He had tried to link the cases in any way possible, see if any patterns would emerge, but nothing. The witnesses weren't doing any good for them too, their minds had become far too messed up to actually offer them anything.

Leaning against his desk as he looked at the futile work he's made on his cork board, he groaned while rubbing his face. He hadn't got any good sleep too. He then turned around to see a fellow officer walk in with 2 cups of coffee in his hand, the other was then offered to him, which he grabbed and thanked his co-worker for.

The other one then watched at the sergeant's messy workplace and incomprehensible notes and thread lines on the cork board. Chuckling as he took a sip from his cup, he couldn't help but feel bad for him.

"Still nothing huh, Lawrence?" He finally spoke up.

"Yep, how long has it been?" Lawrence asked, looking over to his fellow officer.

"Since the cases started?" The blonde inquired, quirking a brow, "I don't know, probably 3 weeks?"

Lawrence then nodded before asking yet another question, "Has Lombard got anything yet?"

"Who knows?" Shrugged the officer.

"And the witnesses?" Lawrence raised an eyebrow, receiving another shrug from the blonde, "Jameson, you know it's really vital that we get at least a sliver of information from the witnesses."

"I'm telling you, I don't know. At least, not yet. Just when I thought I was making progress, they kept quiet again." Jameson sighed.

Just then, another officer came running into the room, who then stopped for a moment to catch his breath. Judging by how he looked like, he may have some good info for them. That maybe the case when the orange-haired man looked at them while holding up some papers.

"I think I've got something." He said, still trying to catch his breath.

"Think?" Lawrence sternly asked.

Within moments, Lawrence's desk had been cleaned and cleared up a bit so the corporal can fill them on whatever intel he's gathered.

"Okay, so, according to these files," The man began, "In most cases, the witnesses we found are the only remaining members of their family, those being the murdered ones."

Lawrence nodded as he studied the files intently.

"Right, so after digging through more files on their residence, I managed to narrow down the area from where the victims had once lived in." He continued, taking out a map where several circles of different colors were drawn on it. From a big one that circled the entire residential areas of the town, it eventually began focusing on one specific neighborhood, "As you can see here, despite our efforts in scouring the entire darn town for more clues, we found that the area where the victims lived slowly began focusing on this area, and that's-"

"Franklin Avenue." Lawrence concluded.

Chapter Ends.

* * *

Well now, looks like things are going to be escalating from now on.

A couple of chapters after this will feature yet another battle that would only be the precursor to something bigger.

So, with all said and done, we will then move on to Chapter 37, which will be coming out soon.


	37. Preparation

Chapter 37.

* * *

A week since that last battle between Lincoln and Korax had passed, and nothing else happened after that. Things had quieted down after that whole thing had blown over. Good thing though, since it gave the Loud family, and especially Lincoln, some time to settle down and take it easy. Probably shouldn't take all this peace and quiet for granted though.

Just this morning, Lola had barged into Lincoln's bedroom, and before the boy could even ask what could possibly rile her up at this time of the day, he had a poster shoved into his face. Apparently it was for an upcoming beauty pageant. And Lola wants him to help her do the last touches of her preparation.

So, they head out to the backyard where Lincoln would then begin with the final touch-ups.

"Okay Lola," Lincoln began, scanning through the pages of a guidebook, "Gil de Lily says here-"

"Come on, Lincoln, "Lola impatiently interrupted him, "I don't need Gil de Lily's advice now, I just need you to run me through the essentials and be the judge. I do need some confidence boost too, you know?" The young diva then struck a pose as she finished her sentence.

Lincoln stared blankly at his sister before closing the guidebook and sighed, "Alright Lola, you're the boss."

Doing as she asked, Lincoln had her go through the 'essentials' in winning the contest. They consisted mostly of the runway walks, the interviews and most importantly, the talent showcase. Lincoln would have just zip through in judging everything the pageant winner does, if it wasn't for her insistence. This forced the still, for some reason, tired boy to force his focus on giving her a good comment and criticism on her works.

Thankfully, it all came to an end soon enough for the boy, with Lola feeling giddy about her scores.

"So, how did I do, Linky?" Lola asked, hopping excitedly in place, waiting expectantly for Lincoln's final verdict.

"Well, since I've already made my comments on your previous performances, I'm just going to sum it up," Lincoln scratched his head, "Overall, you did good. I may have spotted some missteps here and there. But nothing you can't really improve on the actual runway."

Lola found this strange, she thought he made the exact same moves and steps she'd always done before, what made him say that?

"What?" The young pageant queen tilted her head in question.

Lincoln's eyes widened when he realized what he just did and shook his head with his hands up, "I'm sorry, it was nothing. You did perfect! Just be sure to keep improvising, okay?"

"Oh, okay then," Lola nodded with a smile and started walking back into the house, not before she leaned onto the railing to ask, "Wait, Lincoln, what time is it?"

The boy, having just picked up the last items used during all that, stopped to look at his phone and check on the time. He nodded and pocketed his phone to inform Lola, "It's at least a quarter to eleven, why?"

It was then Lola's turn to have her eyes widen, "The contest is in an hour!"

Lola's panicking would then send the entire family in a frenzied rush to prepare for the trip and get her to where the contest would be held. The whole family then took off to the spot in Vanzilla, it all may have taken nearly half an hour but at least they managed to finish just in time.

After a not-so relaxing drive, due to them not wanting to incur Lola's wrath as the aftereffect of her panicked state, they finally came to a stop outside the auditorium where the contest was set to take place in.

"You guys can go on ahead, I'm gonna find a good spot to park Vanzilla in." Mr. Loud said to them after dropping off his family near the entrance, before driving off.

Inside, the Louds found that though the place was a bit quiet, at least more so than their household would usually be, but it was far from empty. There were at least several parents tending and giving a pep talk of sorts to their daughters.

The sight of the other contestants being so much more energetic than the ones she's faced off before however, did not faze Lola, not one bit. Besides, how is she going to win when she's being a nervous wreck while she's on the stage, right? Fueling further to her confidence is her own history in winning countless contests before.

The place itself was quite large too, it was also heavily decorated with multiple banners and some other things that would suit for an event like this one. The stage too had been lined up with a red carpet. How grand did this place needed to be?

"Alright, Lola," Lincoln crouched down in front of his sister, "Now remember, you've already prepared for all of this, so it shouldn't be any problem to you right?"

Lola then scoffed as she replied, "Of course, Lincoln. I mean come on, I'm Lola Loud! Also, it's not like you didn't help."

Lincoln then patted his sister on the head before she waved them goodbye, heading towards the backstage area where she would then begin gathering courage by talking to herself in the mirror at the dressing room. If there's anything she didn't want today, it's to lose her chance to win another pageant contest due to some freak accident.

She may have just jinxed her own chances though, especially after having that thought. What's coming may end up being much freakier than anyone would imagine.

Back with the rest of the Loud family, their father had already joined up with since finding a good parking spot wasn't that hard considering the number of people currently present at the time.

They then made their way to a row of seat that would definitely yield a good view on the whole contest.

"So, what do you kids think?" Mr. Loud began, "If things are going to be okay, I mean?"

"Come on, dad, I'm sure things are still gonna go easy today." Lynn replied before turning over to Lincoln, "Right, Lincoln?"

"Huh?" The boy said, trying to come up with an answer, "Oh uh, I guess so."

Though, even the buck-toothed boy wasn't so sure about things. Probably because he had just spotted someone very familiar to him.

"Psst!" Someone called out to him.

"Huh?" Lincoln looked over to his left side where Lisa was waving to him, "Excuse me, Lana? Can I switch with you for a moment?"

"Yeah, I don't see why not. Besides, maybe for once, I'll try to focus on the actual show." She voluntarily got up and walked over to Lincoln's place.

"Okay, what is it?" Asked the Loud boy as he took a seat.

"What do you suppose his reason for being here?" She inquired, most likely referring to the same person Lincoln had seen.

"What, Oswald?" Lincoln looked back to the man walking around the stage, like he was inspecting the place.

"I have a bad feeling about this, Lincoln," Lisa voiced her worries, "Not him, but of something else."

"Yeah, me too." Lincoln grimly agreed to the young scientist.

Meanwhile, Lynn Sr. had been watching the two whisper silently for quite a while now, how the others didn't follow was beyond anyone. He then straightened himself on his seat and faked a cough to get the others' attention, "It's a bit quiet don't you think? You know, why don't we share our experiences during these recent events?"

"That's a good idea, honey!" Rita agreed to her husband, then looked to her right where Lori was quietly sitting at, "Lori, why don't you start first?"

"Well, it was nice, mom. Bobby and I could finally get some time together after the whole thing with the town had literally blown over." Said the teen with a smile.

"Yeah, and I could, like, finally get back to the latest fashion trends!" Leni followed soon after.

"And I could finally get a moment's peace and start jamming again." Luna continued.

"Uh-huh, and I too can finally start focusing on my jokes again! But be careful, this time, I'm more than ready for an all-out attack!" She laughed after making a joke based on the recent events, which made her family flinch, almost enough to bother even Lucy. Then, like usual, she added her signature quote, "Get it?"

"Yeeeaahh…." Lynn slowly said, still bothered by Luan's joke, "Anyway, I can't really say things have been going good for me though, my team's training was canceled at the last minute due to one of our members freaking out."

"Let me guess, paranoia?" Lucy asked, which the sporty Loud replied with a nod, "Well, I can't say I had it good too, I thought all I needed was more things related to the darkness, I found myself keeping away from them."

"I don't think I can really point out what's bothering me, I managed to have a good time lately, but I've also been thinking that all these mud, and handyman stuff just won't cut it for me. That I needed a break or something." Lana sighed, looking down on the floor.

"Well, how about you two?" Lynn Sr. looked to his only son and his second youngest, "Surely, you two must have had something good in your way lately, right?"

"Mhm, like a few days ago, your teacher came to my office and had an appointment, apparently he broke some of his teeth or something." Rita laughed, she shouldn't, but just remembering how Zed was too casual on things despite having a slight fracture in his nose and a broken teeth, it couldn't be helped.

"Yeah, I don't know what happened, but it seems that my office had been thrown away, literally!" Mr. Loud too joined in remembering his time, "Apparently you guys weren't kidding when you said things did got worse. Now it looks like I'll be missing work for several months or so."

Just by hearing that, Lincoln felt his eyes slowly gravitating towards Oswald down at the stage, still looking to be inspecting the premises.

"My days has been going great lately, to be honest." The Loud boy said, trying to not let too much out.

"I would have to agree to Lincoln, as of late, I have managed to collect some samples of those extraterrestrial beings. Really, I'm surprised their remains were still around at the scene." Lisa finished up on things while adjusting her glasses.

"Now that we've done that, why don't we focus back on Lola? Looks like the contest is about to start soon." Lana said, which the rest of the family all agreed with.

The contest then started moments after the Loud family had their focus back onto the stage where all the contestants began lining up in. Somewhere in the row, they could all see her, dressed in a pink sparkly dress with a tiara on her head, Lola Loud, waving happily to the audience. Especially them.

Now, it's all just a matter of whether things would go smoothly or not.

Chapter Ends.

* * *

Well, nothing can go wrong, right?

Next time, we will be seeing more progress on the story, hopefully it can be counted as such.

But until then, tune in next time, to First Impact, Chapter 38.


	38. Fall From Grace

Chapter 38.

* * *

With Lola's upcoming pageant contest coming up, the Loud family had gone off to the auditorium where the contest was to be held. While all was well, Lincoln and by extension, Lisa, could not help but feel as though things will not stay as peaceful for long. Their worries seem to have grown more after seeing Oswald Kresten among the crowd of workers who are managing the entire thing.

A couple of hours have passed since then, and naturally, the Loud family's very own, Lola Loud was easily dominating in the contest, leaving the other contestants very doubtful of their own chances to win.

By now all that was left of the contest is for the final judging process. While the others were all biting nervously on their nails, some even fanning themselves and looking like they're about to pass out, Lola waited with a big smile plastered on her face as the judges discussed about their final verdict.

After jumping from opinions to opinions and running through their previous scores, the juries turned back to all of the contestants, with a decisive look on their faces.

"Now then, contestants," One of them began, presumably the head judge, "After talking about it with my fellow juries, we have come to a conclusion on who will win our beauty pageant!"

Despite knowing that this was just about to unfold, the audience and contestants both gasped after the jury revealed what was next, they were of delight and surprise.

"Looking back on our scores, and on the performance of our contestants, we are happy to announce that our winners are…"

Lola, and her family whom are all at the edge of their seats, waited excitedly for the final results to be told to everyone.

"Coming in at third place…" The head jury began, pausing for a moment to further add tension in the air, before finally continuing, "Florence Valentino!"

It was after her name was announced that the aforementioned girl clenched her fists and gave out a reaction that basically screamed, "So close!". The girl then began walking to to the newly-placed podium where she was given a bouquet of flowers and a simple-looking tiara with a single gem of unknown legitimacy. The podium then rose one feet above the ground, signifying her position.

This Florence Valentino kid was wearing a light blue dress without any patterns and were accompanied only by a cyan sash and gloves. Her hair was light brown in color which was set into a small ponytail. Judging by how smooth it looked, it was clear that they were kept with great care. Despite being third place though, she still beamed a smile and waved to the audience who all gave her a round of applause as she accepted her place.

After a few more seconds, the podium lowered itself back to its' original height and Florence left with her prizes as she continued to wave at the audiences.

Once she was off behind the curtains, her smile wore off and she looked at the floor before taking off her tiara to look at it. She sighed and was just about to walk off before somebody whistled to her.

Confused, she turned to her back to see tall Englishman wearing a dark green jean jacket with a green shirt underneath, accompanied also with a pair of dark green jeans. His hair reached down to his neck, though, despite its' length, his eyes weren't obscured as they were parted in the middle. Looking at the girl was a pair of sharp green eyes. The man was also leaning against a wall with his arms crossed. This man, is otherwise known as, Oswald Kresten.

Feeling disturbed, Florence was just about to run away from him before he gave her a thumbs up and a single nod. His expression said it all, "Good job" was the message he gave her. Once she got that message through, her smile returned, her confidence too. If she's to lose this one, there will always be another pageant for her to improve on. She then ran off with a big smile on her face.

Oswald then leaned back on the wall and peeked out a bit to see as the contestant on second place was announced: "Lindsey Sweetwater!" Came the voice of the head jury. He also saw how the girl had a sour expression on her face.

Sighing, Oswald eased up for a while as he waited for something. Surely, this something was going to be a very big problem for him, and of course, Lincoln as well.

He could just hear as the audience was getting restless while the jury was about to declare the number 1 of this contest. He heard the jury got off his seat and began walking around like a big jerk, teasing both the audiences and the contestants as he did his so-called dramatic pause. At least, that's what went through Oswald's mind, and, another thing crossed his mind. It felt like a tripwire that was linked directly to his mind had been triggered and someone has made their presence known.

* * *

Back with the Loud family, Lincoln felt the air getting tense. He then began sweating as he looked around to see the source of his uneasiness. Unknown to him, Lisa had been staring at him as he did that.

Then, just when the head jury was finally about to announce the winner, the roof around the middle of the building collapsed. It was a good thing that none of the seats were placed there. Though, what followed were the panicked and terrified screams of the audiences as they were blinded by the clouds of smoke that were kicked up by the roof's collapse.

Many of the people who had been caught inside of the smokescreen managed to get out shortly after and get themselves to a safer location. They should have gone outside, but instead they chose to watch as the cloud cleared off to reveal an Armored Hexon with blue markings all around it and a monster with a physical build similar to Theropods with the exception of having a face flatter than what you could call a dinosaur's and a tail only half the length of its' body size.

Before anyone could start gasping or screaming or even react to the two, the door was kicked open. Walking in with a slow gait was yet another familiar Commander.

The Commander then looked around the auditorium, giving out a somber aura, as if he was feeling bad about something. He looked to the floor to see one of the broken ribbons that were once strung high onto the ceiling. Crouching down, he picked it up before folding it. With a sigh, he stood back up and placed hand on his head.

"I told them I didn't want to destroy anything," Lund finally spoke up, "Just when I've found a good place to duel in."

Once he finished talking, he held his hand forwards where a small red sphere of energy began forming. He slowly moved his hand downwards with the sphere following his motion, creating a single-bladed sword as it did. As soon as it was finished, Lund grabbed the blade and swung it around before pointing it forward towards the stage.

"W-What do you want?" The head jury shakily asked.

"At ease, it's like he said," Oswald interloped, walking to the middle of the stage where he stopped, crossing his arms as he looked back to Lund, "A duel."

With that, Oswald gestured the contestants, the juries and the audiences to get to safety, which they did without hesitation except for one. Including her family.

Oswald then looked at this remaining contestant with a raised eyebrow. It was Lola Loud, standing still in place with a confused and hesitant look.

"Kid, you better get out of here, fast." Oswald told her.

"Lola, come on!" Lana shouted from the back.

"N-No!" Yelled the young pageant queen.

"And why is that?"

Lola was taken aback by his question, she stepped back for bit while she held her arm, looking away with some hint of embarrassment in her face before finally answering him, "Because… I don't want to lose my chance to win! I can't just let my entire career down the drain because of this!"

From the back, along with his family, Lincoln silently uttered, "Lola…" under his breath. He couldn't help but feel sympathy towards his little sister, but if there's one thing she should be more worried about right now, it should be for her own life.

"Listen, I don't know how important this thing is to you and I'm sure it means the world, but if you don't run now, you'll never have the chance to go on with this 'career' of yours."

"But… But it's all I have!" Lola defiantly shouted back at Oswald, before her mascara was visibly ruined as it became runny due to her tears falling down her face, "I don't want you freaks to ruin this one!"

Oswald closed his eyes and breathed in deeply for a moment before exhaling as he opened them again.

"I'm sorry," He sincerely apologized, "But I don't want to see another person dead because of me. Not anymore."

Despite her efforts at trying to bottle up her emotions, Lola did eventually run away from the stage and out the backstage exit while she screamed in frustration.

"Lola!" The Louds shouted out, running out of the building to look for her. All except two of them stayed behind.

"Lincoln, I'm leaving this to you! Please, be safe!" Lisa asked of Lincoln, a request which the boy nodded to.

Just as Lisa had left the building, Julius came in, looking like he had just ran a marathon. He then ran over to Lincoln's side and nodded to the boy and transformed.

Kicking away at the carpet, Oswald reveals a hidden button underneath it. He then looked at the trio of invaders, especially Lund, who had been looking at the ground as if he was actually feeling bad for what he's done. The man then stepped on the button and next to it, a hatch was opened, from where a sabre sprang out of and caught by Oswald.

"Alright Lund, if you really felt bad on what you've done, then how about you keep to your words and duel with me? You can send your boys over to those two, they can take care of them."

"Okay, Oswald?" Julius shouted, objecting on one thing, "First off, I do not want to fight Disastrosaurus Rex over there!"

Lincoln then blankly looked at Julius as he finished, well at least it felt like a blank stare. He was then met with a shrug from Julius, to which he replied with, "Dude, just get on with it."

"…Fine, but I assure you-"

Julius paused when he looked again to where the two were, only to find that they were no longer standing far but instead, just mere centimeters away from them. Before anyone could say anything to this, they were punched straight out of the building, stopped only when they finally lost their momentum in the air. This created a problem, they were bound for a crash landing.

The duo then hit the ground hard enough to make two craters many times their own size in diameter and at least a few times their height in depth. Inside the crater, the pair groaned in pain.

Back with Oswald and Lund, the former had just finished adjusting his arm to the use of the sword and had it pointed at the latter, who simply stared back at him.

"Right then, Sa'Ur Lund, let's duel." He declared, transforming into his grasshopper motif armor when his waist glowed bright red as his belt appeared.

The two then rushed towards each other and clashed with their swords, creating a shockwave that shook the entire building, but had a small enough amount of energy in it so it wouldn't destroy it.

Backing away from the lock, Oswald and Lund both tried to circle around each other, which turned to them spiraling closer towards each other as they stepped over the seats and locked their blades again. Pushing through, they both managed to free themselves and continued on by delivering swings after swings, all repelled only by their own force.

The clashing of blades continued as they began to run around the auditorium, both trying to gain an advantage of sorts towards the other. The two eventually reached the stage where they would then begin to move with much more grace, showcasing their expertise on their weapon.

Meanwhile, Julius and Lincoln had been trying as hard as they could to try and get an opening on their opponents. Ever since the two were caught off-guard, they haven't been able to properly lock onto the Elite and the beast.

" _Alright, come on now Lincoln think! What do you do when you can't keep up with Lynn?_ " Lincoln thought to himself, racking his brain for memories of when he and the sporty Loud would be playing tag around the house, or when she had her roller skates with her, blitzing him when he least expects it.

The Loud boy then got an idea, once he and Julius found themselves into a more open area, he stopped and kept his position, body bent, head towards the ground, and just overall not looking at anything at all.

Julius also stopped a few meters ahead of Lincoln before turning back to the boy. Confused, he asked, "Lincoln, what are you doing?"

The boy simply raised one hand towards Julius and scanned around the place to see if there would be any signs of the Armored Hexon and the monster around. Sure enough, they were. Julius then found himself in a pinch when the dinosaurian monster tackled him from behind.

Thinking that Lincoln was also open for attacks, the Armored Hexon jumped above the boy and got ready to pounce. Only for it to be countered when Lincoln rolled to his side and had the Elite punch the ground.

Wasting no time, Lincoln jumped forward and threw a punch to the side of the Elite's head and staggered it. Lincoln then continued his counterattack by following through with a series of punches and kicks aimed at the Armored Hexon. After having dazed it, Lincoln made haste towards the Theropod-like creature who charged towards Lincoln.

However, Julius managed to recover quick enough to grab the saurian by its' tail and pull it back, hoping to overcome the kinetic energy produced by the charging reptilian. This also gave Lincoln to perform a Superman Punch on the creature's face, which seems to greatly affect it as it then began thrashing around. This was a big mistake on the beast's part since even though this made it dangerous, it doesn't know that someone else was behind it. Using this as a chance, Julius began applying more pressure onto the creature's leg, securing his arm lock around it.

Julius then spun around in place, with the monster getting caught off-guard by this and was at the mercy of the teen, which is to say, basically nonexistent towards the creature. After having made several rounds, Julius released the creature's tail and sent it flying towards the Armored Hexon once Lincoln barely jumped out of the way. Great coincidence, really.

"Alright!" Lincoln pumped his fist skywards.

"Ha ha! Come on!" Julius taunted their enemy, feeling rather cocky.

With that, the two sides now have a more equal ground against each other. Both Lincoln and Julius took up a fighting stance as they prepared themselves for the real battle. This gesture was returned by the opposing force as the Armored Hexon began stretching its' muscles which is, unknown whether it had them or not, while its' beastly comrade roared at the two young fighters.

The tornado team match will now commence.

Chapter Ends.

* * *

There we go, a bit longer than I intended to but it'll work out. Also, if you guys are wondering which girl I took for Florence, she's actually one of the characters that appeared in "Cover Girls". Why? Because taking one-off characters seem to be a thing here. Only in my case, I took it a bit further.

Soon, we will see another change in the story that will. Will. Eventually play a role in the next arc.

Now then, with 38 finished, Chapter 39's arrival will be underway.


	39. On-Stage Questioning

Chapter 39.

* * *

Due to having the main power source cut out by accident, the auditorium had been dimly lit with only the backup generator kicking only a few of the emergency lights up and the light of the now descending sun being the only things illuminating the building. Occasionally, some of the areas would brightly light up, either momentarily due to the sparks caused by the clashing of blades, or for a longer period of time caused by the bursts of energy released when the swords struck hard.

Striking and thrusting. Very often do these moves actually hit their intended targets. Over the course of the battle, the seats, the walls and even the ceiling had become victim to the rapid slashing of swords.

Under the cover of the darkness where the lights don't shine, two eyes from behind a mask stare intently at one another. Waiting for the right time to strike. These moments came far too often for both sides, resulting in the aforementioned damage done to the building.

Stepping out under the light of the sun, a man lowered his blade, watching as his opponent slowly approaches him.

"So, how's everyone else?" The man clad in green armor began.

"It's terrible. Korax is very restless, and Tentavros still hasn't gotten over his defeat. Jarvhool however, abandoned us. You don't happen to know where he is, don't you?"

"As a matter of fact, we do. He came to us offering help."

"So he wasn't joking."

"About him wanting to leave?" Oswald asked, which he was answered with a nod, "What about Barzal?"

"He hasn't been around for all we know." Lund answered, causing Oswald to feel great confusion and panic.

"…Have any of you… Killed any humans directly… As of late?"

"No, at least none were done by the three of us, why?"

"Nothing…" Oswald waved the Commander's question away and began raising his sword again.

"Very well, let us continue then." The Commander nodded, preparing his blade as well.

Then, like before, the two beings of massive power clashed once more, shaking the entire building in the process. Though, looking back, it's clear which of these two have the advantage in terms of power scale.

* * *

Lincoln yelled loudly as he and the Armored Hexon simultaneously threw a punch at each other, with the former lowering himself by bending his knees at the last minute, successfully landing his fist onto his opponent's face while messing up the Elite who missed by several centimeters because of him.

The Armored Hexon then recoiled in pain as the damage from the punch finally settled in, leaving it vulnerable to more attacks from the Loud boy, so once it recovered, the only thing it saw was Lincoln charging towards it.

Julius' armor was doing great favors for him, the design of his armor was enough to take in some damage from the saurian beast, yet it was still lighter than the beast in comparison thus, allowing for more maneuverability for the teen.

Punch after punch, Julius continues to push back the monster with every attack thrown. Once he had damaged it enough, he backed away to get some space and retrieve his disc. Much like before, he had the saw ring extend from the sides and have it spin rapidly. Lunging forward, Julius swung the weapon at the monster, easily slicing away on its' skin.

Back with Lincoln, the boy had been using his lighter armor and physique to a great advantage. He managed to dodge almost every attacks he was met with, only to actually be hit a few times which, unlike before, did not seem to do much damage to him as it once did. His reflexes too seem to have gotten much sharper, being able to perceive the movements of his opponent who could move at least a hundred meters in a second, similar to how normal humans would see each other.

Another noticeable upgrade to him was that most of his attacks feel like they fully connect with to his opponents, a great improvement over his previous style where his punches feel like they would immediately slide off the bodies of his opponents. He kept testing what else he's got after that reawakening of sorts back with the previous battle.

With the Armored Hexon dazed, Lincoln stepped back and placed a hand on his belt's display which then showed a picture of an arc drawn in a beeline. After whatever it is he activated, Lincoln could feel his feet getting lighter. He hopped in place and eventually found that he could keep the same amount of momentum in his hops, without gaining height. Confused, he ran forward and jumped over a failed leg sweep from the Elite.

Much to his surprise, he didn't even exert much energy to jump up yet, there he was, having jumped several times the Elite's height into the air. He took the time to look at his feet mid-air and could just see the edges of his boots glowing, perhaps that was what's causing all this? He eventually fell down and failed to bend his body in time to allow for better absorption of the impact, only for him to land perfectly straight and suffered no rebound.

Not knowing what was happening, Lincoln swiped his hand over his belt again to deactivate this power.

He then looked forward to see the Elite charging towards him, he panicked and responded by putting up a shield unlike the ones he had summoned before, it looked like a sleigh with its' back end set on the ground. When the Armored Hexon threw a punch and had it land onto the shield, its' hand was immediately dragged upwards, throwing it off-balance. It seems the design of the shield made it so that any external force was to be redirected away from the shield' user.

Lincoln took this opportunity to attack, he undid his shield, and threw a punch that struck the Hexon right on its' chest. The force of his attack combined with the Elite having its' guard lowered due to being caught off-guard was enough to push it hard enough to have it land on the ground and force it to roll backwards. The Elite recovered quickly enough to set itself kneeling on the ground.

It got up and began backing away until his back was connected to somebody else. This was Julius, who had unfortunately taken the opposite of Lincoln's situation and was the one getting his own butt handed to him.

Julius reacted far too slowly to the Armored Hexon behind him, the moment he had finally turned, he received a powerful right hook to his face, staggering him backwards. Lincoln was just about to come to his aid when the Armored Hexon picked him up and threw him towards the boy.

The following situation could only be summed up as, hilarious. Julius' heavier armor made it hard for the injured and dazed teen inside it to recover from the throw and he kept falling back down on Lincoln, who could only yell at him to get up. It was a scene straight out of a comedy show.

But while all that ensued, the Armored Hexon fled the area, showing how much more different it was compared to the previous Elites. This left only the saurian creature for the two to handle.

Still haven't gotten Julius completely off of him, Lincoln decided to push him away by summoning his dome barrier, which worked just as he expected. The boy then got up as he undid his barrier to see the beast getting ready to charge at them, causing the boy's eye to widen.

"Julius, get up!" The boy shouted as the creature turned its' attention towards the still-downed teen.

Julius only got on all fours when the monster rammed into him, sending him rolling away. Once he stopped, he clutched his stomach and tried to push himself off the ground using only his face.

Lincoln then ran to Julius' side when the creature was getting ready for another charge. He supported the injured teen back to his feet and put up another shield when the monster finally took off. The beast then rammed hard onto the barrier, only for it to stagger backwards.

"Can you still walk?" Lincoln asked, with the teen only looking down as he tried to see for himself.

Julius eventually began losing balance mostly due to the hard impact he had received on his head from the Elite before, and also adding to him having become weak was because of the obvious injuries he was suffering after getting hit by what is essentially a train in the form of a dinosaur-like creature.

"Guess not." Lincoln concluded before shooting a glare at the dazed monster. He then undid his barrier, set Julius down and began walking towards the creature, "You stay back, then."

"Wait, Lincoln, no!" Julius tried to get up, only to fail and fall back onto the ground.

Lincoln then gestured the creature to come at him, which it did, only for it to be redirected by Lincoln's shield and crashing into another shield Lincoln had put up. He decided to not let it recover for even one moment and followed up by throwing an energy-infused punch to its' head.

Keeping his momentum, Lincoln continued to unleash a furious barrage of attacks on the creature, hitting it with everything he's got.

With one powerful punch, Lincoln pushed the beast as far as possible. He then placed a fist in front of his belt and began charging it up. Soon, his fist was encased in its' usual orange-colored energy ball, only this time, electricity began surging all around it, signifying its' increase in power.

Slowly, Lincoln began walking towards the still recovering saurian before gaining speed until he sped by as an orange blur. He came close enough within range and stopped, throwing his fist forward, looking like an orange shooting star as he did so. The punch then connected, releasing a powerful shockwave in the process, shaking entire city blocks. Soon enough, he was once again engulfed in a powerful explosion which eventually began spiraling into another towering pillar of light that shot up into the sky, dispersing large amounts of cloud much like it did before.

Though, it seemed to have shot much farther than just the sky and exploded with a much greater energy, it looked almost like a supernova. That's what Julius saw at least, having seen it all when his energy sensor automatically kicked up at the thought of reading the energy released by Lincoln.

The clouds of smoke that had been kicked up from the last remaining burst of energy when the pillar of light disappeared began clearing up, with an exhausted Lincoln in the middle of it.

Lincoln then morphed out of his suit and sighed, wiping off his sweat. He tried to catch his breath before walking up to Julius who too, had undid his own armor. Holding his head, he tried to remember what else he may have missed before going off, good thing his brain didn't short circuit as he remembered that somebody else is missing.

"Oswald!"

Lincoln then helped support Julius and began to walk slowly towards their destination which, given their current situation, may take quite a while.

After a long and painful walk in Julius' part, the duo finally got back to the auditorium and went inside to see both Oswald and Lund on opposite sides of the stage.

Riddled with injuries, Oswald and Lund stood bravely still against one another. Raising their swords to their side, they both ran towards each other, ready to deliver the finishing blow. For a short moment, they both looked like they could deliver their strikes onto one another, until, Lund started to lose focus and made the first swing which Oswald saw through and slid under while giving out his final strike to the side of the Commander's body.

Having made a decisive victory, Oswald got up and turned to see Lund clutching the side of his body as he tried to hold off the bleeding.

"You did it." The Commander said, subtly congratulating Oswald for his well-earned victory.

"Good job on you too, you lasted longer than before." Oswald walked up to Lund.

The Commander then slowly turned to him and saw as the duo near the door prepared themselves in case he was going to make any funny business. Instead, the Commander only nodded at Oswald and began walking towards the door with his opponent following shortly behind.

Both Lincoln and Julius made way for the Commander, not following on their instinct to attack him due to their worry over Oswald, who came to a stop close to them.

"Why didn't you finish him off?" Julius asked.

"Yeah, I mean look at you." Lincoln said, trying to touch a slash mark near Oswald's eye before refraining himself.

"Nothing."

"I wish to duel again with you someday, Earthling." Lund silently said to himself as he walked away from the scene.

"I want to see if I could get us another ally on our side. Something about their fleet's condition doesn't seem right." Oswald explained his intentions.

Julius and Lincoln didn't say anything to that, either because they do not have the energy for it, or because they don't know how to respond to it. Though, another topic was soon to be found as Lincoln's phone began to ring. Safe in his pocket, despite all the damage he received.

"Hello?" Lincoln picked up and asked, it was his mother. She sounded very anxious and once she broke the news to him, he gasped and thanked his mother for giving an update of him as she hung up the phone, he then looked to the other two, telling them the news, "My little sister's gone missing! She must have ran away after what happened here! Oh no…"

Oswald looked away to the direction of the setting sun. He felt bad, he was the one who got her to run away. But if he wasn't wrong, that shockwave before must have done something else too.

* * *

Lincoln and Julius ran towards the former's parents at their household, both of whom were talking to an officer, asking him about the whereabouts of their daughter. Daughters perhaps as Lincoln heard more once they got closer.

"First Lola, now it's Lana? What's going on?" Rita worriedly said, placing one hand on her head as she tried to calm herself down. Lily, who was being held with the other arm, could only hug her mother.

"Calm down now, honey, I'm sure the police might be able to find them soon." Her husband helped in easing off her worries.

"Mom! Dad!" The Loud boy called out to his parents, waving as he did so.

"Lincoln!" Both his parents were at least relieved when they saw their only son coming back to them.

The three of them hugged it out for a moment before letting go, with Lincoln looking around in a worried manner.

"So, what was that about Lana again?" He asked.

"I'm afraid she too might have gone missing." Lynn Sr. answered his son's question.

"She must have gone missing while she was looking for Lola." Rita said, becoming more and more worried at the moment.

"Where are the others?" Asked the boy again, this time referring to his other sisters.

"They went off looking for them, I hope they don't get lost too." Replied his mother.

They waited for a while as the police continued their search for their two missing daughters. Julius tried to calm Lincoln down, who was pacing around like crazy. Then, hours passed and still no news from the police. The Loud parents were soon joined by the older and two other remaining younger sisters, who all had disappointed looks in their faces from not being able to find their twin sisters.

After more time had passed, Julius apologized to Lincoln as he had to leave and ran off, all while offering still to fill them on if he had any information concerning the twins. Then, it was the waiting game again for the Loud family. Just when they were about to think of the worst, they heard someone approaching them.

It was Oswald, in his arms were both the twins, sleeping soundly and comfortably. He continued to walk towards the family with a straight face and stopped once he got close enough where the family then ran up to him.

"Lola! Lana!" Lincoln and his sisters, including Lily who only babbled their names, called out to them.

Oswald's eyes widened when they did that as their calls forced the two to wake up. He then shook his head lightly as the Loud siblings covered their mouths with their hands and sighed, waiting for the twins to properly wake up and get re-oriented on their surroundings.

"Wha…?" Lana began, trying to pry open her eyes before rubbing them shortly after.

"Where…?" Lola continued, doing the same as her twin and looked around to see her siblings all looking at them, prompting her to become wide awake.

Once the twins woke up, with Lana still feeling a bit tired, Oswald placed them both on the ground and let the two return to their family.

Then, it was clear that Oswald too had grown tired from all that and so, the man bade them farewell by simply turning around and waving his hand for a bit. Just as he was about to walk off, however.

"Wait!" The family called out to him, causing the man to turn his head to look at them.

"What?" He simply said, without fully turning himself to them.

The Louds paused for a moment, trying to think of something else to say other than the usual, "How can we thank you?". One of them did find something that should be a good topic.

"Oh, what about that scar on your left eye?" Luna asked with a nervous smile, "Is it okay now?"

"My regeneration has been kicking in rather slow lately. I- Oh, okay, it's fine now." Oswald turned to face them, revealing that the scar under his right eye had recovered.

"Huh… Well then, thank you for bringing back our sisters." The rocker quietly thanked him on behalf of her family.

The man however, didn't say anything to that, which made them feel like it was worthless to try and say anything in the first place. They all started to head back to the house before they heard a whistle.

"I'm sorry, but I actually asked the police to call off the operation without telling you guys anything." He said, darting his eyes to and fro.

"You… What?" Rita asked, her brows furrowed.

"It's a long story… But…"

"Actually, it doesn't matter," The Loud mother calmed down a bit, holding a hand up before looking at him with a smile, "Thank you for bringing these two back."

After thinking about it for a while, Oswald smiled back and nodded. Before he could go off on his own however, he felt as though someone was trying to stop him from going. He found soon that instead of one, there were two. The twins had ran up to him and hugged him by the legs.

"Come on, I have to go now. Look, it's really late." The man said while pointing to the sky.

Without saying anything else, the twins let go of him and walked back to their family, where they all then waved goodbye as Oswald began walking off to the distance, soon fading away into the dark of the night.

"Come on kids, let's get inside." Lynn Sr. said to his family, which they all did except for Lincoln and Lisa, who wanted to wait for a while.

Once all of the other family members finally got inside the house, Lisa began scratching her head while putting in one hand in her pocket, turning to Lincoln afterwards.

"So, what happened?"

"I don't know."

"If I recall correctly, Lola bore no liking towards that man, so what happened there?"

"I'm telling you, I don't know," Lincoln insisted, this time, he shrugged, "All I know is, he got the job done."

That, he surely did. After a few more moment of silence, the two remaining kids were called out by their parents and they immediately ran back into the house where the door of the Loud house is to make its' final closure for the day.

Chapter Ends.

* * *

Is this length okay? Was it a bit too dragged out? I think it is.

Anyway, next chapter will be more of a flashback chapter than a regular one.

So, Chapter 40 will be coming out soon.


	40. The Princess and The Knight

**Author** **'s notes: This is by far my longest chapter yet. So buckle up and get ready fellas, it's gonna be a long read. So please, read and review.**

Chapter 40.

* * *

Through the streets of Royal Woods, past every intersections and roundabouts, Lola ran and ran, not letting herself slow down for even a second. At this point, all she wanted to do was to get as far away as possible from everything. If she keeps going at this rate, she might get herself lost, troubling her family further than they already are. One must remember that little Lola is but a child, with a mind that sees only to herself thus, completely nullifying any blame that will come to her. For within her mind, she is already lost.

With a face contorted to only a furious scowl as she pushed herself further along the path with no clear destination, she hides the overwhelming surge of blue and purple that lies inside her. She wanted to scream at the top of her lungs, yet she also feels the desire to cry her heart out, broken down by the fact that her chance from achieving another victory in what she specializes in had been reduced to nothing. She also had been scrambling her brain, trying to figure out what that man had meant when he said what he said. Of course she wouldn't just throw away her life, if that's what his message had been encrypted with.

Even with the massive stamina reserve that is the mark of a Loud, Lola's body eventually got tired and began to slow down. She didn't even know which paths she had been taking, she just made turns when she had deemed it necessary. But now, it seems that she truly is lost. She continued to walk tiredly until she eventually reached the town's park where she entered and found a pond to wash off her face, which was covered with the soot that is called a mascara and other remnants of her makeup.

Seeing that the sun have been descending from zenith, Lola couldn't help but wonder, how long has she been running? It didn't really matter, what did was that she was tired, so she went further into the park and wouldn't you know it, right behind her, across the park's entrance on the other sidewalk, her family ran past it without noticing her. Had they called out to her, she probably would have heard them.

It wasn't long during her search for a bench, what seems to be a powerful wind had blown over, and knocked Lola's tiara right off her head, landing it somewhere in the park. All she wanted was for things to cut her some slack but no, she now heads out again for a different search. She found her first targets when she got to the more familiar spot in the park, the trees, the bushes and heaven help her, the mud puddles that Lana can usually be found in.

Not wanting to dirty herself, she started first on the bushes. Braving herself, she dug into them despite having all those thorns. When the first one had nothing in them, Lola growled and went off to find her tiara in all the other ones. Every now and again, she'd be greeted with either a rather large thorn which annoyed her greatly or a caterpillar that didn't bother her at all since really, she likes even tarantulas, what are the odds for her to be disgusted and creeped out by something lesser?

Once her search in the bushes yielded no results, she moved on to the trees. What did she do to deserve all this was all she thought of as she began climbing up the trees, only to slide back down a few seconds later. She wasn't quite the climber. Her attempts also made her dress wrinkled and messy so she looked for stones and threw them onto the top of the trees instead. Which put herself through yet another comical and cartoonish situation where in some cases, she would hit a beehive and had it fall in front of her, leading to the angered bees inside to give her chase. Another event would simply be an apple falling on her head.

Nevertheless, it seems that her tiara wasn't anywhere in any of the trees. This narrows her search down to- No, she wasn't going to do that just yet, she tried to rationalize the situation, maybe it'd be just like how some things are, instead of having been sent to a far off location, maybe her tiara had simply landed in plain sight and she had yet to catch a glance on it? Indeed, she believed so. Anything to get the mud from further ruining her dress.

As hard as she tried, she just couldn't find it anywhere; not under the benches, not along the path around, it wasn't anywhere. Distraught, Lola decided to just do what she dreaded to. As she prepared herself to dive into the puddle of filth, Lola took a deep breath in and was just about to make her-

"Lola!?" Came the voice a familiar person, quite familiar.

Hearing that voice, Lola turned to see her twin standing and staring in shock at her. Presumably of what she was about to do.

"What are you doing?" Asked the young mechanic as she walked up to her younger twin.

Lola's lips began to quiver, looking down, she spoke: "I lost my tiara." Concisely, without adding anything to it or being the drama queen she usually is about things.

"What? Well then, let's look for it, have you got any lead?" The older twin asked.

"Well, I don't know much on that since that stupid wind blew it off all the way to kingdom come." Lola angrily said. She did notice something strange about Lana, "Wait, how come you're all alone?"

"Oh, we thought we should split up, which we did, and start looking for you." Lana explained her situation.

"Anyway, let's just find my tiara, can you help me with the mud puddles? And the treetops." Lola nicely asked of her twin.

"Sure, you go find it somewhere else, try not to get yourself hurt or anything." Lana happily agreed to help her twin.

From there on, it was twice the effort to search for Lola's missing tiara. Yet, it had the same results as when it had only one person in the search. The tiara wasn't on the treetops, not in the mud puddles, heck it's probably not even in the park.

Lana tried to call off the search but Lola insists that they keep looking.

"Lola, come on. You can't seriously prioritize that tiara more than going home." The animal lover tried to reason with the young diva.

"No! It has to be somewhere!" Lola shouted before she headed off to another direction.

Where she would instead fall flat on her face when her heel landed in a hole that was just enough for it to fall in. Lana, who wasn't too far behind her, tried to prevent her from falling and grabbed her pearl necklace, only for it to break, causing her to fail in doing what she wanted to do.

Lola pushed herself off the ground and turned to Lana whilst holding her head in pain. Her twin simply gasped in shock, her nose was bleeding. Adding more to that was the fact her false set of two front teeth had broken off, one eye bruised and there was a visible bump on her forehead. After readjusting herself, Lola's eyes immediately started gravitating to her broken necklace. Which, when she saw it, prompted a very loud scream that would make it impossible for her family to not hear. But, of course, they didn't.

The twins sat on a bench overlooking a pond, Lana sat quietly with her hands clasped together, she also twiddled her thumbs as she looked around, feeling grief and sympathy towards her sister. Lola was in the same position as Lana, only in her case, she looked down. She continued to sob, in pain of what happened to her, and because of how rough things had been for her. She's lost her victory, her tiara, what else?

The pageant queen eventually stopped crying and wiped off her tears, but she kept her head down. She tried to touch her bump, only for her to hiss in pain upon making contact. She then looked up, which her twin took note of and did the same.

They both watched as the sun continued to make its' descent on the western horizon. The two then wondered, could things have gone better?

"Listen, I'm sorry that all of this happened to you…" Lana began, her twin simply looked at her.

"Lana, no," Lola shook her head, "I've thought about it for a bit, and maybe it's not really anyone's fault. Maybe it's just me that couldn't handle things breaking down in front of me."

"Wait, Lola please, don't beat yourself up over things." Lana tried to stop Lola from continuing.

"But it's true! I always want things to be on my side all the time, to be at my disposal, ready for use on a whim. That makes me forget about others. Maybe all of this is because I needed a wake-up call. And I'm long overdue." Lola hung her head low.

Unbeknownst to them, someone had been hiding behind one of the trees, listening to every word they've said. Oh boy. He knew what he did was bad, but he never expected things to have gone up until this level. Searching his mind, he tried to find a way to cheer up the young girl.

The man knows, that this was definitely going to be one of his most grueling task yet, but with perseverance, he should be able to get through all this. He's not the certain acquaintance of his, but he'd definitely try.

Stepping out of his hiding spot, he slowly walked towards the twins, hands in his pockets, head down while trying to think of something to say. Hopefully he doesn't incite the little girl's rage just by showing up in front of her.

Lana still felt like there should be at least something she could do to help her sister. This state where she couldn't even offer a good cheer-up words or anything similar is really eating away at her. It's making her feel down. But she knew, this isn't her sister's fault. Then, at the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of someone approaching them. Turning her head towards the person, she spoke up.

"Oswald?" She said, tilting her head.

Lola heard her speak and also looked towards the man she had thought to be the one ruining everything she had worked for. She would feel angry at him, but alas, all that fire and rage had long disappeared from her. She no longer had the strength to be angry at someone. So, all she did after was get back to hanging her head low.

Oswald finally snapped out of his thoughts and came to a stop in front of the twins. He crouched down and began looking for the right words to say.

"Listen," He began, "I'm really sorry. And no, please, don't say that it's your fault. I am fully aware of what I was doing at that time. I hid that sword over there, and I knew those guys were coming. It was only a matter of time. Honestly, I wanted them to come bursting through the doors and ceilings before the contest began, but I actually got interested in it and probably got a little mesmerized. So, I'd like to make it up to you guys for all that, somehow."

Lola only looked intently at the man in front. She didn't know what to say, and it's not because of her anger towards him, confusion over what he just said or anything. She just couldn't think of a way to reply to him.

"For starters," Oswald paused and looked around before settling his eyes on the glistening water, "Maybe I'll help you a bit with that bump, it looks nasty."

After ruffling the young Loud's hair a bit, Oswald got up and placed a hand on the side of his waist where his belt then materialized on. With the swipe of a hand, he returns once more in his armored form. He walked up to the water, placed a hand in it while crouched and pulled it out with a small water ball swirling in his hand, a green glow faintly emanated from it.

He then got back on his feet and walked back towards Lola and raised a finger, signaling them to hold their question off for a moment as the rapidly swirling sphere began to calm down. Then, with his normal accent, he spoke.

"Alright now, this should fix you up a bit." He calmly said, slowly placing the sphere on the bump on Lola's forehead. After a few seconds, he pulled away his hand and voila, the bump was gone.

Lana was amazed by this and inspected her twin sister's forehead and found almost no trace of the injury, "Whoa! How'd you do that?"

"I had to use my regenerative powers for it," Oswald explained, before continuing, "You see, the four main elements you see and feel on a daily basis have different levels of conductivity for my powers. Let's focus on water and what's one of the best types of energy it conducts. Due to how malleable it is, it can be used for many things. Two things stand out, when its' calm like how it is right now, it allows for a very soothing energy flow in it. So, to put it simply, the water element allows me to perform what is essentially healing. You guys already what the other is for."

Even though they didn't quite get all that, they still nodded as if they understood what Oswald was telling them about.

Lana kept quiet for a moment before she spotted something on Oswald's face, "What about your scar there? Aren't you going to heal that?"

"Ah, that? That should heal up soon, you saw me regenerate back then."

The two then simply nodded after Oswald answered Lana's question.

"Anyway, hold still, there's still one more." Oswald told Lola, placing the ball of water on her bruised eye.

It stung for a moment, then nothing. Lola checked on her eye after Oswald pulled away his hand, and found that the bruise was no more. She gasped in joyful surprise and looked at Oswald with a thankful smile.

Seeing that Lola's injuries have been healed and her smile returned, Oswald reverted back from his armored self. At least that's one step in the right direction made. Now, all he needs to do is figure out how to fix the thing that he started, and bring the twins back to their home.

"Huh, you know what? Something feels off about you." Oswald said to the not-so-princess-y princess.

"Yeah, probably because she lost her tiara." Lana explained, with Oswald nodding at that.

"Well, let's go find it, then. I believe what knocked it away was actually a shockwave." Said the man.

"How do you know that?"

"Of course I'd know."

Oswald then shook his head before saying, "Come on now, after we get your tiara, I'm going to send you home."

"No!"

Lola's sudden outburst got her the attention of both her twin, and Oswald. The young diva realized what she'd just done and covered her mouth with her hands. The two looked at her with a raised eyebrow, putting her in quite an embarrassing situation. She took a deep breath before exhaling, ready to explain herself.

"Actually, I'm not ready to go home just yet. After what I did; running away and all, I wouldn't want them to get angry."

"What the- No, that's exactly why you should go home. If anything, they'd be worried sick." Oswald countered.

It was true, judging by how low the sun has sunk, and how long it had been since she started her mad dash away from the auditorium, it's probably been a few hours since all that had transpired. Besides, what kind of family doesn't allow a member of their own to come back to them? Especially after having lost that member for quite some time. It's not like they couldn't enjoy a good dinner together to pass it off as one of those bad memories.

Speaking of dinner, these two haven't even had lunch yet. Then, their stomachs growled. Point made.

"Oh, right." Oswald simply said. He sighed and held out his hands as he offered with a smile, "Why don't we go find something good to eat then, huh? It's on me this time."

Bombing him with thanks, both Lana and Lola happily took his hand and jumped off the bench, ready to make their way to someplace where they could get some grubs on their hands. Really, by this point, the twins couldn't care less on what they're going to get. Such a fact was normal on Lana's side, but after all that's happened today, she'll probably see more to her younger twin than she usually lets on.

Along their way to the nearest place to fill their empty stomachs with, Oswald was approached by some officers whom he spoke with in secret. Bidding farewell to them, he continued on with his and the twins' path.

Meanwhile at a diner in town, Oswald, who sat on the opposite side of the twins at their table and Lana, who needed only to turn her head to the side, watched in shock and amazement as Lola ravenously chowed down on her meal. Meals. Ever since they got there, the little princess had ordered a meal befitting of her title. It was basically a royal banquet at their table there. The Englishman had been caught off-guard for quite some time now as he couldn't hear the waitress standing next to him calling out.

One last, "Sir!" Was all she needed to shout to snap him out of it.

"Oh, what?" Oswald confusedly turned his head to look at the woman.

"Salad, and scrambled eggs?" The lady stated their order while quirking an eyebrow.

"Ah, right, thank you." Oswald said as the waitress placed his and Lana's food on he table. He then slid the plate of scrambled eggs towards the little aspiring plumber-veterinarian-steamfitter as Lana had told him of what she wanted to be when she's all grown up.

"Thanks." Lana quietly said with a nod as she pulled her plate closer and took a bite out of a smaller piece of it using a spoon.

"I can't believe this…" Oswald said with a slight chuckle.

"Yeah, watch that appetite, Lola. I thought you want to look perfect." Lana joined.

"Oh, please, if I had to worry about gaining weight, I wouldn't be eating right now." Lola defensively stated.

"Yeah… That makes sense…" Oswald sarcastically remarked.

Oswald then began digging into his salad bowl and started eating, greatly enjoying the taste of it. There isn't much he needed to think about it as he then took his attention outside of the diner, taking note of the streetlights once the veil of darkness that is the night had fallen over the town of Royal Woods. He worries for a moment that him taking the two to this place might bring about more trouble than good, before shaking off that thought.

As he continued on with his meal, he noticed something that caught his eye. There seems to be an item faintly reflecting the lamp post's light from one of the bushes behind it. He stared at it for a while, thinking of what could possibly be doing that. Before his eyes widened in realization. Putting two and two together, and several quick glances at the blinking light and Lola's head, he swallowed the lightly chewed vegetables and turned to the twins.

"You two wait here, I need to check out something out there." Oswald said, getting up from his seat to run outside. He stopped for a moment for one last say, "You guys can have the salad if you want."

"Hm, don't mind if I do!" Lola cheerfully accepted Oswald's offer.

"Well, at least you're eating your greens." Lana plainly said, shoveling in another spoonful of scrambled eggs into her mouth.

Under the lights of the lamp post, Oswald stood in front of the bush where he last saw the eye-catching object. He thought this would at least brighten up the girl a bit more, he sighed as he dug his hands into his pocket.

Feeling something in his hands, the soft and smooth texture of a paper, he took it out and looked at it. He then slapped his forehead after remembering that he had something else. An item from the scene that would prove useful in his endeavor. Placing it back into his pocket, he took off his jacket and dug through the bush to hopefully find something belonging to the princess.

Back at their table, Lola moved on to the salad after finishing her 3rd meal, the rate at which she's eating had thankfully slowed down. Lana by this time, was only about to move to the last remnants of her order of scrambled eggs when Oswald came back in. The Englishman set himself back on his seat and leaned back on it. Lana eyed the content-looking man for a moment before noticing something underneath his jacket, poorly hidden.

"What's that?" She asked, pointing at his jacket.

"Oh, this?" Oswald said, placing a hand on the item he was carrying. He kept quiet for a moment as he looked at it before finally speaking up on it, "I believe this belongs to you."

Just as he said that, he pulled out the one thing that had been missing in Lola's full attire. A little dirty, but it was a tiara nonetheless. Lola's tiara. The pageant queen's eyes widened as she saw the item held in Oswald's hand, the half-chewed vegetables in her mouth fell back to the bowl when her jaw dropped. A gasp of realization was then brought out from her.

Shaking her head, Lola tried to see if it was really hers. She slid the bowl of salad away and held out her hands, which were shaking. The tiara was then gently placed on her small hands, allowing her to take a much closer look on the regal headwear. Seeing that it was indeed hers after a short inspection on it, Lola's eyes teared up, her lips quivered and her heart moved. She brought it closer to a hug and looked at a smiling Oswald.

"Thank you." She squeaked, which Oswald found quite adorable.

"And that's not all, take a look at this." The man added, pulling out a folded piece of paper out of his pocket and showed one of the things written on it.

 **No. 1 of the "Miss Pretty and Talented" Pageant: Lola Loud!**

The winner then gasped loudly as she looked at the marker-written line. All this time, she thought they haven't given her any place at all or that the monsters had stripped her chance from winning, whereas the truth was that, she already won. She looked at her tiara and proudly placed it on her head, knowing that she had once more proved to be a tenacious competitor in a pageant, coming out as its' eventual victor.

"Congratulations." Oswald simply said to her.

"Is there any more to that?" Lola asked.

Oswald then began to unfold the paper and started reading out the juries' verdicts. They consisted mostly of praise on Lola's performances. Very rarely was there any sort of criticism, hard and light ones alike. Having 4 years of experience on things most likely helped her through even this one. Once it was finished, she sported a very wide smile on her face.

"Oh, it seems that's not all," Oswald said, getting the twins' attention once more, "Here's my verdict; based on what I've seen of you today and compared to what I heard the other contestants say about you, I can safely say that one cannot judge others based on their exteriors. To truly see who a person is, one must see what they hold inside. And I think it's just me but, that's what I see of you today."

Finally, tears rushed down Lola's cheeks. The person whom she thought would be the last person to ever show such levels of kindness not just in action, but also words, was one of the first person to ever say that to her. Right behind her brother. Lincoln's attitude towards his sisters may have somehow rubbed off a bit on Oswald.

Lola then jumped over the table to give Oswald a hug as big and tight as she could. Oswald accepted the hug and embraced it for a moment before he saw Lana, who looked happy that her sister finally back to being as cheerful as she was during the start of the competition earlier this day. Oswald smiled at her and beckoned her to join with them in the hug.

"Aww…" Was what Oswald heard from one of the waitresses.

He looked to the woman and saw that it was the same one, he faked a cough and pulled away from the hug, "Okay, you guys wait outside, I'm going to pay for our meals."

The twins nodded and ran outside while Oswald turned back to the waitress and asked for the bill. He waited for her to come back with it while he pulled out his wallet from the back pocket. When the woman finally came back, he checked out how much all of their stuff cost, he sighed as he dug out some of his papers and paid for it.

"Alright girls, let's go home." Oswald stated as he walked out of the diner, only to receive no response. He looked around and saw the two having dozed off on a nearby bench just outside the building. Smiling, all he could say in response to that was: "Now would you look at this."

Manning up, Oswald simply carried the two in his arms and slowly walked them back to their home. It took a while, but ultimately, it was all worth it.

Illuminated only by the orange streetlights, Oswald continued on his path in the middle of the empty night streets. He took a glance at the two kids every now and then, make sure they're doing alright. They're asleep, of course they are. But he probably won't be, for the Loud family's humble abode draws near, and he had taken much time with two of their own. Not even Lincoln would be able to cover for him at this rate.

And so, he arrived, greeted by a group of mob who all looked with disapproval of what he'd done. That's how he saw them. Then, all that would happen, happened. He apologized, sent the two back to their parents, and received one last hug where he sneakily gave Lola something else that he feels should have rightfully be in her hands. Bidding farewell, he walks off, no longer having any lingering thoughts about things. Maybe his bike, he left that off not far from the auditorium.

" _Hopefully it's still there._ " Oswald thought, scratching his head.

Being the last ones in the family bathroom, Lola looked around to make sure the coast is clear for her. She then pulled out Oswald's last gift to her. The tiara that had been reserved for 1st place in the pageant. Lana, who had been looking out the door, closed it and walked towards her twin with a nod and a thumbs up.

Understanding the message, Lola smiled and slowly placed the tiara on her head and looked at herself on the mirror. She turned around a couple of times to admire herself, though, on a lesser level compared to how she usually does. Then took off her prize, walking out of the bathroom with her sister. The two exchanged winks and made a pinky promise to keep the tiara a secret.

The twins then head off to their rooms and got ready for bed. They both said goodnight to each other, with Lana going to her bed first and slowly drift off to a peaceful slumber. Lola slowly walked to her side of the room and climbed up her bed, where she then placed the tiara on her nightstand and gave one last smile at it before she too let herself have a little shut eye and closed her eyes and mark the end of the day for her.

Chapter Ends.

* * *

I'm not supposed to be sorry am I? But I am. I will try to blow this out of the water with some of the later chapters but for now, this is the longest one yet.

Next chapter will still be dealing with some filler stuff. But now that I think about it, this chapter is pretty much filler also. I'm also less satisfied with it now. Hmm...

So yeah, Chapter 41 will be out soon.


	41. Message

Hello there, whoever may stumble upon this. I am here with the last update for this version of First Impact.

Needless to say, my update is to tell you of the progress. While I, unfortunately, am only working with writing the 3rd chapter of the reboot, I have however, finished outlining the first arc. I am currently outlining the 2nd arc. I'm sure not many of you are going to be looking forward to this, I still want to thank the small amount of people who still came in to even just view the updates.

Reviews were a bit, well, let's say nonexistent. Sure, there were some reviews, but literally only one person has actually commented on the story itself, giving me some criticism.

Expect to see the first chapter up by, say, somewhere around the middle of July. Hopefully by that time, I would have already finished at the very least, 7 or 8 chapters as well as outlining at least the 3rd or 4th arc.

I suppose that is all for today, thank you again for the small minority that have actually given this story a chance. I hope to only be able to continue doing good or even better with the new one. I can't say I'm proud of this or my current work, but I am.

I will now take my leave, I have dumped enough of my radioactive waste here. You folks better run along as well, lest you suffer from radiation poisoning.


End file.
